Welcome to Our Reality
by straighttoneverland
Summary: Four girls who have been friends for years find themselves in quite a mess. Everyone on Earth has seemed to vanish, but them, a few Youtubers, and the 1D boys. Read about their stuggle, love, and lots of humor.
1. Chapter 1

"Anedria, fucking listen to me!" Claire shouted from across the room. Her voice was soon followed by a pillow flying straight for her face.

With quick reflexes, Anedria shielded the pillow away. "What the hell, Claire? That was uncalled for." She argued with her older sister, sticking her tongue out in protest.

"Well, maybe if you'd listen to me for once, we wouldn't be having this little problem."

"Claire, I'm always listening to you. Now, what did you say?"

Claire threw her hands up in exasperation, her white-blonde hair flinging over her shoulder. The two sisters couldn't be more different. While Claire was the spotlight holder, with her straight forward good looks, Anedria was always pushed to the back, stuck in daydream land. Her mind was always off somewhere else.

"As I was saying, Zayla wants us to come over, and besides, your favorite is already over at her place."

This caught Anedria's attention quickly, "Abby's over?" She asked, in which Claire replied with a quick nod.

"Then what are we waiting for?" Anedria exclaimed, hopping up from her place on the couch. "Let's get going slowpoke."

The two girls arrived at Zayla's apartment in downtown LA only thirty minutes later. It had been weeks since all four girls had been together, and there was a good reason for that. When you mixed all four of these completely different teenage girls together, the outcome was complete chaos.

"Faggots!" Zayla screamed at the door in greeting. She stood 5'8 with long brown hair that curled on the ends and these huge brown eyes that screamed crazy. But, all of them were completely crazy, just in different ways.

"Zayla!" Claire yelped in happiness, running to the other girl with her bag slapping against her back with each stride. Those two were the closest out of the group, well, maybe besides Anedria and Abby. They had known each other since the second grade and could never be separated, till as of recently.

"Hey, Zayla." Anedria greeted in a much more calm manner. The taller girl smiled at her, happiness shining in her eyes.

"Come on, idiots. Let's get upstairs, Abby is making some sort of desert." Zayla informed them, closing the door to the apartment complex.

The three banged their way up the stairs and down to the far left. Anedria could already smell the sweet scent of whatever Abby was making. It drifted into the hallway and lingered there.

Claire opened the door, only to find Abby in the kitchen. The small girl was covered in flour, bit and pieces of her dyed red hair were flaked with it. She was obviously laughing at herself when she heard the door open. Her eyes immediately brightened even more when she saw Anedria.

"Anedria!" She shouted, dropping whatever she had been doing and running over in complete excitement.

Despite the mess Abby was, Anedria embraced the girl in a tight hug. "I miss you, asshole." Abby spoke, punching Anedria's shoulder after releasing her from the suffocating hug.

"Well, I missed you too, Miss Abigail." Anedria replied back in a sassy tone.

"Well, fuck you too. Guess you don't want any cupcakes, hmm?" Abby baited and Anedria just smirked. She felt light with happiness, and it finally felt right to be reunited with her friends again.

Just then a timer went off. "Shit, shit, shit." Abby growled under her breath, running for the kitchen and pulling out a tray of perfectly baked vanilla cupcakes.

"Don't worry guys, I saved the babies." All the girls laughed in unison.

"Well, come on guys, time to start out anime marathon. I've got Host Club season one and two on disk." Zayla shouted, jumping up and down in excitement.

This caused another eruption of laughter as all the girls settled down in their rightful places on the couch, each of them popping open wine coolers and turning the lights down.

"Come on, Anedria, don't be a pussy." Claire tried her hand at encouragement, which wasn't really helping.

The four had finished most of season one when Abby had received a call from none other than Sawyer. Sawyer was an old friend of theirs, he had been living in LA for a while and asked if him and some of the other boys could come over and chill with all the girls.

Of course, since Anedria had found out Jack and Finn were also in America this week with all the other boys, including Cyr, Louis, and Sam, she had flipped out.

"You guys don't seem to understand. It's fucking Jack Harries. What if I can't even talk to him because I get so fucking tongue tied. Or, what if I mistake him for Finn? Do you know how embarrassing that would be? And what if-" She was cut off by Abby handing her a shot of vodka followed by a lit cigarette.

"Drink and smoke, it always calms you down." Abby advised.

Anedria took the shot with no problem and sat down on the couch again, running a hand through her unruly red-brown hair. She took a deep drag of the cigarette, waiting a second before blowing it out and ashing in the owl tray on Zayla's coffee table. Zayla didn't smoke, but the other three did and she bought it specially for them.

"Thanks guys, I'm just getting worked up over nothing. I'm sorry." She apologized, taking another drag.

"Just keep-" But before Zayla could finish her sentence, the bell for the door rang.

Claire buzzed all the boys in, and they could immediately hear the thumping of footsteps coming down the hall.

"Oh shit, oh shit." Anedria mumbled to herself, before pulling herself together. She straightened the hem of her collar studded shirt, and brushed away imaginary dust from her dark jeans.

Sawyer opened the door, a smile stuck on his face. "Hey!" He shouted in happiness. He walked past Claire, ruffling her hair in a brotherly way.

And in came the two British boys, Sam and Louis. Cyr followed right behind them, giving Abby a semi-casual smirk. She gave him full blown smile in return.

And in came the Harries twins. Anedria hadn't moved from the edge of the couch, she made sure to tighten her grip on the filter of the cigarette so it wouldn't fall.

She almost let out a sigh of relief when she could clearly tell the twins apart. Finn had his hair styled differently from Jack's and the smile lines on his face stood out, making it clear who was who.

"Anedria!" Sawyer shouted, causing her to glance his way. "Long time, no see. Where have you been, hiding under a rock?" He asked, making her move over on the couch to give him room.

"Something like that," She replied with a half smirk. Her gaze kept flickering back to Jack, waiting for introductions to be made.

"Oh, yeah, almost forgot." Sam finally started from where he was talking with Zayla. "Jack, Finn," he indicated the twins, who each smiled in almost a shy manner. "This is Zayla, Claire, Abby, and Anedria." He pointed each of the girls out, and when Jack's gaze lingered on her, she could have just fainted right there, but refrained from doing so, instead she smiled.

"Now, who wants to have some fun?" Jack suggested, pulling out a bottle of expensive whiskey from his jacket and quickly added, "Well, besides you Sammy boy. You can have fun watching us." Only then did Anedria remember that Sam was a straight edge, no drinking, smoking, or drugs.

There was a chorus of "I'm in" 's before the bottle was popped open and shots were poured. Clairedidn't waste any time, chugging the first one down and followed it up with another before anyone had even taken their first.

"Slow down, will you?" Anedria pestered from beside her.

"How about you speed up?" Her sister cockily responded, the alcohol already blurring her eyes.

Anedria laughed, tipping the shot back and trying not to grimace when it hit the back of her throat. The amber liquid followed through her body, warming her stomach all the way to her feet.

Soon enough, Sam had music going, not too loud of course, and suddenly there were cameras out, dancing being done, Sam getting on the counter, Claire screaming as she twirled, Abby getting closer and closer to Cyr on the couch.

It was a lot to take in, and Anedria was not yet drunk enough to deal with all of it, so feeling the need for fresh air and another cigarette, she stepped out onto the balcony.

It wasn't really 'fresh' air, just about as fresh as LA will get, but it helped clear her head. Her fingers fumbled for a lighter and she had even more difficulty igniting the damned thing.

"Need a hand?" A voice asked from behind her.

She turned to find a pleasant surprise. Jack had decided to join her and in his hand was also a cylinder of tobacco. "Please," She answered exasperated.

He pulled out his own lighter and had no difficulties flicking it and sending up a flame. She smirked and lit her own, puffing out a quick drag.

"Since when do you smoke?"

"Since I went to Uni," He replied back easily, leaning against the railing.

Her heart gave a smile jump as she tried not to stare. Fucking Jack Harries was standing outside sharing a cigarette with her and shooting her sideways glances. This was definitely faint worthy.

"Abby and Cyr, sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g" A chant started from inside, it sounded like Sam was leading it.

"Jesus Christ, that girl will be the death of me." Anedria sighed, but she was still smiling, she had already expected this out of her Abby, that girl could not be tamed.

Jack chuckled, blowing out a stream of smoke. "You all seem really close. How long have you known each other?" He asked, seeming genuinely interested.

"Since we were seven years old. Abby was the new girl in town, so I volunteered to show her around the school. If I had known what I was getting into," Anedria shook her head in mock exaggeration.

Jack laughed again. This was good, Anedria thought, she could at least make him laugh.

"So, what brings you to America?" She asked him.

He didn't even hesitate to answer. "Finn and I have been traveling a lot lately and we missed Sam and Louis. So, we hopped on a plane and now here we are."

"Simple enough," She nodded. She nodded. "I'd kill to travel to London."

Jack put his hands up in an innocent way, taking a step back. "Woah, there, just don't decide to kill me." She laughing, flicking ash off her cigarette. "But, if you really want to go, you know how to find me." He told her seriously.

"Really?" She asked, jumping at the opportunity.

"Yeah, why not? I mean, I don't live in London all year, just the summer, but definitely." Jack responded, running a hand through his auburn hair.

"You'd better not be joking," Anedria warned with a smirk. "Because one day I'll just show up at your door and you won't be expecting a thing." She joked lightly, earning a smile out of him.

"I don't know, I think I'd kind of like that."

She blushed, happy that the darkness of the outdoors hid her face in slight shadow. They both finished their cigarettes, flicking them over the edge of the balcony and going back inside.

The night went on in their usual madness, although Anedria had not expected to walk in and find Louis and Claire lighting up a joint in the kitchen.

"Claire!" She had scolded her sister, smacking the other girl on the arm.

But, when Claire slowly acknowledged her, she just smiled a goofy, intoxicated smile. "Come on, Clarie, what did I tell you about mixing uppers and downers?"

Claire had to think for a moment, putting her hand on her hip and looking up at the ceiling. "Oh, I dunno, Anedria!" Her voice came out loud and her sister laughed at the sound of herself.

"You're unbelievable," Anedria shook her head and walked back into the living room.

Cyr and Abby had seemed to be making progress. The two were sitting close together, Cyr had his arm draped around Abby's shoulders and she was, in turn, resting her head against his shoulder.

Finn, Sawyer, and Zayla all seemed to be caught in an argument about some sort of food, she caught some of their words over the noise, those words consisting of 'nandos, fuck you, you're an idiot, avocado, and ziam'. Anedria paused a bit when she heard the last word, almost rolling her eyes in mock annoyance.

"Here," A voice spoke behind her.

Anedria turned to find Jack handing her a mixed drink. He had removed his coat from early and she saw that he was wearing a Jack Wills shirt, it was tight fitting and she forced herself to look away.

"Thanks, already trying to get me drunk, huh?" Her voice was playful as she took the cold glass from him.

Jack put a hand over his chest in mock hurt, "Of course not, my dear Anedria, I would never."

"Sure," She nudged his shoulder.

The two took their place on the other end of the couch, Anedria against the armrest and Jack right next to her, both their arms touching even though there was plenty of room on the other side of him. 'This is good', She thought again, a smile creeping on her face.

"What are you smirking about?" He asked, looking at her with the same playful grin.

"Oh, nothing." She looked away, distracting herself with the drink in her hand.

"Everyone!" Zayla's voice shouted over the noise as the music was paused.

"Oh lord, what now? Are you taking no notice of my take off to Neverland?" Claire shouted back from the kitchen where the two were finishing up a joint.

Everyone laughed as Zayla glared down Claire. "Shut up, stoner! Now, everyone needs to shut the fuck up. One Direction's new music video is on T.V." And with that, everyone stayed quiet as the music was turned up from the television.

Everyone in the room had some sort of liking, or obsession, or respect for the boy band. Personally, Anedria thought they were all attractive in some way, and their music was catchy. But, the attractive part could be her soft spot for Brits.

"Fancy any of them?" Jack asked her, whispering in her ear so Zayla wouldn't yell again.

"Eh, not sure. You know, those British boys are really questionable." She kept her voice serious, but let a smile leak out.

"Yeah, I feel ya. I especially don't trust that little blonde Irish one." He went along, and without Anedria having even noticed, he had put his arm around her shoulders, leaned on the back of the couch, mimicking Cyr.

"Who said that about my baby?" Zayla shouted, sending a glare their way.

Jack and Anedria snickered, looking away. "I don't know about you guys, but I want the Lili in my bed," Claire screamed in happiness and added, "naked!"

Everyone laughed again, and although Anedria didn't approve of the drugs, she had to admit her sister was damn funny when she was like this.

Once the video had ended, things started to slow down. Claire had come down from her high and drunkness and was looking about ready to pass out. Anedria hadn't hesitated in taking her into Zayla's room and tucking her in.

"Anedria, don't fuck Jack, I don't trust him." She murmured, pushing her face further into the pillow.

Anedria gave her sister a confused look. "Claire, what makes you say that?" She asked, wanting an answer.

But, it was too late. Her sister was already sleeping, a muffled snore coming from her. Anedria sighed, shaking her head slightly, she grabbed pillows and blankets from the closet before returning to the living room.

Abby was also passed out, with Cyr right beside her. Saywer and Sam had taken the guest room down the hall, and it was just Zayla, Louis, Finn, and Jack all still awake…and playing a board game of Catopoly at the kitchen table.

"That's bullshit!" Zayla stated, pointing accusingly at Louis. "I wanted the fucking Persian!"

"Oh god, never take the Persian when playing with Zayla." Anedria warned.

"Alright, here!" Louis quickly threw the card back at her. She gave a triumphant smile and continued to roll the die.

Jack glanced up from the board, a cup of tea was placed next to his arm. He noticed Anedria carrying all the blankets and pillows. "Thank god, I'm beat." He sighed in relief.

Finn made a pouty face at him, "Where am I sleeping?" He asked his twin brother.

"On the floor, duh." Louis answered, not even looking up from the game.

Anedria dropped all the things on the floor, throwing a blanket over the two on the couch. "Jack, help me with the table, please." Anedria said, already starting to push it over to the side of the room.

He came up and the two of them moved it across the living room, making sleeping space on the floor. Jack started dividing blanket and pillows while Anedria put the alcohol away and emptied the ash trays.

"Come on, Zayla, you'll be tired in the morning as it is." Andria coaxed, starting to put the game away.

"I was going to win anyways." Zayla noted, crossing her arms like a five year old.

"No, I had more-" But, Anedria quickly cut Louis off with a warning glance.

"You're right, you would have definitely won." Louis gave in with a tired smile. Anedria nodded a thanks at him for preventing one of Zayla's little fits.

"Alright, children, to bed you go." She ordered and everyone stood. Louis made his way to the living room, checking his phone, and then settling down on the floor.

Zayla stretched her arms above her head, her brown eyes foggy with tiredness. She walked down the hall to sleep in the bed with Claire.

Finn had laid down by Louis and was conversing with Jack while Anedria continued to pick up the kitchen, wiping down the table and putting the board game back into the hall closet.

"I can see who the responsible one is." Jack joked, walking up to her.

She laughed quietly, "Not really, but I guess if you were picking from the four girls, then I would definitely win."

They smiled at each other, and Anedria mentally remembered what Claire had told her. 'Was it just the drugs, or was she actually trying to warn her?' Anedria questioned herself.

"Come on, you look tired." Jack insisted, gesturing to the floor.

"Wow, looks so inviting." Anedria said sarcastically. He just laughed and made his way over, Anedria tagging along behind him.

The two laid down, Jack next to Finn, and Anedria on the other side of Jack. She turned her phone on silent, setting in next to her pillow. Being the paranoid one Anedria could be, she turned on her right side. She didn't like sleeping on her left, knowing that's where her heart was. It drove her crazy hearing the echo of it before bed.

Jack seemed to be the opposite, sleeping on his side on the left. He smirked at her playfully. "Goodnight, Jack." She whispered quietly, hearing the echos of snores all around her.

"Night, Anedria."

And with that, they fell asleep.

If only they knew what they'd be waking up to


	2. Chapter 2

Foggy. Pain. Blurs. Pain.

That was all Claire could think as she finally reached consciousness. Her head throbbed in a post drinking way. She couldn't remember whose bed she was in, or how she had gotten there. All she could remember was drinking, a lot, then smoking a joint with Lou and the rest was a complete blur.

"Ugh," She groaned, pulling herself free the of the sheets, her long legs stretching out in front of her onto the floor.

It wasn't until she looked up and recognized the familiar framed pictures of a black cat that she realized where she was. Zayla's apartment.

That's right, she remembered, Anedria and her had drove from Anaheim to spend the weekend with Zayla and Abby. Then the boys had come over, along with the Harries twins, and everyone got drunk. Claire smiled to herself, remembering the times from last night, or trying to remember that was.

She looked to find Zayla still dead asleep next to her. The older girls mouth was slightly ajar and her eyes fluttered as she dreamed. A small smile formed on Claire's mouth in adoration of her best friend.

Quiet noises of sleep sounded from around the apartment, which meant Claire was the first one awake. She hurriedly reached for her phone, finding it on the nightstand where someone must have placed it.

The clock read : 7:01

"Fuck this," She murmured and was about to fall back down in the bed when a nicotine craving ran over her.

"Fuck these smoking needs, fuck my life, might as well kill myself." She started mumbling before pulling on Zayla's slippers and wrapping a spare blanket around her shoulders.

Putting her phone back down, she grabbed her pack from the floor and walked out into the living room.

She wasn't surprised to find Abby laying on the couch with Cyr wrapped around her. 'Get it girl,' She thought with a wicked smile. But, she was shocked to find her little sister wrapped on the floor next to none other than Mister Jack Harries. 'Oh, fuck no.' She thought to herself.

The two were facing each other, both their legs slightly entertwined, she didn't know if this was on purpose or not, but how close they were definitely was.

Without thinking much, she kicked Anedria's arm and got a quiet grumble in response. "Come on, you dumbass." Claire whispered yelled.

Her sister glanced up with blurry eyes, trying to focus them. The green was a bit shocking in the morning with the contrasting redness from sleep, but Claire was used to it.

"Wake up, you little alien. Cigarette break." Claire whispered, waving the pack around. This sure woke Anedria up easily.

"Fuck head, you couldn't have let me sleep a little longer?" Anedria complained, carefully untangling herself from Jack, and Claire could have sworn she caught her sister blushing.

"Nope," Claire popped the 'p', "Come along, kiddie."

Anedria followed her sister out onto the balcony, careful to step over Finn and Louis who were snoring away, both in dream land.

Both of them trying to be as quiet as possible, they slid open the glass door and stepped out into the cold morning air of LA. The sun was already rising and lighting up the whole city.

"One for you, my little slut." She said, handing a stick to her blushing sister, who pulled out a lighter from her back pocket and lit the cigarette.

They both stayed completely silent for a few moments, enjoying the early morning air and the toxic smoke going in and out of their lungs. Claire was too caught up in her slight hangover and thoughts to be the first to break the silence.

"Claire," Anedria started, her eyes looking troubled. "What do you remember from last night?" She asked this with focused meaning, making this more than just common conversation.

"Well," She began, leaning against the white railing. "We were watching anime and drinking, the boys came over, we drank more, Sam was on the counter and I was twirling about, and then Louis showed me this amazing joint, we lit up, and the rest is this fantastic blur." The girl concluded, crossing her arms to help keep her warm.

Anedria seemed even further bothered and Claire had no clue as to why her sister was acting weird. "Did I do something last night?"

"No, it's just that," Her sister paused, biting her bottom lip in worry.

"Well, spit it out, don't keep me waiting." Claire pushed.

"When I was putting you to bed, you said something about Jack. You said that you don't trust him." She finally said, taking a quick drag.

Claire thought about it for a moment. It was true that she didn't trust Jack, she knew some of the things he did last year with many girls and her sister was a bit naïve. Anedria had never dated many guys, she was the close ended sibling with slight mental problems.

Claire thought back to that frightening day back in summer a few years ago. The girls were still living in Wisconsin with their parents and it was a cloudy night. Everything was going wrong. Her sister hadn't eaten for what seemed like weeks, she would hardly talk to anyone, and when she did talk, it would be about suicide or self-loathing.

Then when Claire had thought things couldn't get any worse, they did. Anedria, being on anit-depressants, anti-anxiety, and iron pills, overdosed. She took almost all of the anti-depressants, which would have easily killed her.

Luckily, their younger brother had caught Anedria in the act and they had gotten her to the hospital in time to get her stomach pumped. But, for seventy-two hours her sister had been on suicide watch.

It was scary for everyone, but Claire couldn't even imagine what her sister was facing. She didn't even want to imagine it. It was too frightening to even think of.

But, for a long time Claire held a grudge of Anedria for almost taking herself away from everyone. She wouldn't know what to do with her younger sibling. Anedria and Claire were closer than anyone the both of them knew. They would share everything with each other, never leaving each other's side except for the common things like school and work.

Now, being faced with the question, Claire lied. She had to. She couldn't let her sister have a break down. Not right now.

"I said that?" She asked Anedria, making her voice as surprised as possible.

She could tell by the look her sister was giving her that she didn't believe Claire. So, being Claire, she laughed to lighten the mood. "A, don't worry about it. I say things I don't mean when I'm baked, and I'm even worse when I'm drunk. You know that."

This seemed to slightly convince her as she also laughed, "Yeah, kind of like how you were planning to fly to Neverland last night?"

Claire gave Anedria an incredulous look. "No way? I said that?" She chuckled again. "God damn, I am fucking hilarious. Like, if I weren't me, I'd definitely be best friends with myself."

This caused the both of them to laugh, but it wasn't until the both of them quite the hysterics that something sounded very off.

It was the quiet.

Everything felt still, almost dead. Claire realized she couldn't hear the business of cars roaming by, which was very unusual for LA, especially on a Saturday. Not to mention, none of the neighbors were out in the pool below, nor was anyone doing their routinely walks with their dogs on the path.

"Claire," Her sister spoke in a whisper, as if scared to disturb the silence.

"You notice too, then? I'm not having some sort of day-after high?" Claire asked, also keeping her voice low.

Anedria shook her head and the two shared a confused and worried look. "Come on," Claire urged, taking the big sister role. "Let's go check to see if anyone is awake."

They went back inside, and sure enough, Sawyer, Cyr, Abby, Louis, and the twins were all awake. "Well, good morning!" Abby shouted from the kitchen, she was putting together an omelet from the stove.

"Is Zayla not awake yet?" Claire asked, looking around for her best friend.

"Claire, it's Zayla, she'd never be caught awake before one on a Saturday." Louis noted from where he was standing by Abby, adding ingrediants to the pan.

Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Jack sending glanced to Anedria, who was trying to be oblivious to them. Feeling the urge to roll her eyes, she decided to focus on the problem at hand.

"You guys, go look outside, now." The urgency in Claire's voice made everyone pause. Claire was never serious, everyone knew that. And when they all glanced at Anedria to see if Claire was just playing some sort of joke, they quickly realized she wasn't.

Everyone found their way out onto the balcony, followed by the two sisters. They all stood there for a moment, murmuring to each other.

"I don't see anything."

"What's going on?"

"What are we supposed to be seeing?"

"Everyone, kindly shut the fuck up!" Claire finally said, and when Claire yells in a serious voice, you fucking listen.

The group stayed silent, and Sawyer was the first to notice it. He gave the girls a confused look, before glancing back towards the empty street.

"Oh, shit." Sam whispered, and soon enough, everyone took notice.

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god." Abby kept repeating, hurrying herself back inside and soon everyone followed her lead.

"Someone go wake Zayla," Claire ordered and Finn went without question.

The whole group looked at each other, sharing confused and scared glances. Cyr was trying to calm down Abby, who was sitting on the couch with her head in her hands.

Sam was conversing seriously with Louis and Sawyer, while Jack was whispering something to Anedria, who didn't look any calmer.

Claire herself felt like she was on some sort of crazy trip, as if she had just done a strip of acid, which she sort of wish she had. Claire always had a difficult time dealing with serious issues, hence her excessive drug use.

Finn soon walked out with a grumpy Zayla, she was wrapped in the duvet with her brown hair in a crazy fashion from sleep.

"What the hell is going on?" She grumbled.

As Sam started to explain things to her, Anedria jumped up to make coffee. Hardly anyone was fully awake and they were all in shock, a good cup of coffee would help everyone.

"Okay, here's what we need to do." Claire began once everyone had been seated and served their choice of coffee or tea. The whole group was sitting in a messy circle in the living room.

"Zayla and I will go check the neighbors, we'll see if anyone is there, and the rest of you, get out your phones and go through every single contact you have. I don't care if it's your grandmother or Pizza Hut, just call." And with that plan in set, everyone went into action.

Claire and Zayla began their search, going out into the hall and knocking. There were a total of two complexes and ten doors in each one.

After the first five with no answer, they started to open the doors, finding some locked and some not. The ones that were opened, were completely empty. No one was there, but everything was as it was as if someone was still living there.

"This is too much for ten in the morning." Zayla complained, looking around her neighbors empty apartment.

"Come on, no one is here." Claire finally stated after investigating the last one.

The two girls returned back to their group, hoping to find some progress there. At first when they walked into the apartment, everyone was silently calling and dialing on their phones, which all thankfully worked.

"I just keep getting voicemails." Sawyer complained, throwing his phone down in irritation.

"It'll be alright, mate." Sam tried to comfort him, but everyone seemed to be getting worked up.

Claire looked to her younger sister, who had just ended an unanswered call. She looked to be on the verge of tears. Anedria looked up to her sister and shook her head, "Danny didn't answer, I tried four times."

Now Claire understood. Danny was their younger brother, the one who still lived with their parents back home. The two girls started to understand just how serious this was because Danny always answered his phone.

"Fuck," Claire whispered, lighting a cigarette with quick and practiced ease, trying to lighten the stress. It didn't help much, but it gave her something to do besides just worry.

"Wait!" Jack yelled, standing up in excitement.

"Marcus, is that you?" He didn't even bother to keep his voice down, there was no need to.

Everyone went dead silent as Jack started talking to this boy named Marcus. Claire vaguely remembered a Youtuber named Marcus and wondered if this was the same one.

"Alright, so it's just you, Alfie, and Caspar?" Jack said into the phone, trying to calm himself down by pacing.

"No, no, we have ten of us here in LA."

Pause.

"Yeah, we have Finn, Sawyer, Cyr, Louis, Sam, Zayla, Abby, Claire, Anedria, and myself. That'd make ten of us."

Another pause.

"So everyone in London is just gone?"

"Okay, yeah, we'll head into the city and check things out and then I'll call you right back."

"Alright, bye Marcus, be safe."

And with that, Jack hung up.

"Okay, Marcus, Alfie, and Caspar are all okay. Apparently they had a meeting at Google today and everywhere was empty and no one was anywhere they looked. They did the same thing as us and called everyone with no answer." Jack informed everyone, running a hand down his face in a stressed way.

"So, now what?" Abby asked from her spot of the couch. Her always changing eyes were thick with worry.

"We go into the city and see what and who we can find." Claire answered.

They all set out an hour later, after everyone had changed and showered, though weirdly enough the water and heat were still working.

"I'll drive my car, Zayla, Sam, Louis, and Cyr can all come with us. Saywer, you take Anedria, Finn, Jack, and Abby. Just follow behind me." Claire instructed.

With the plans set, everyone got into the separate cars. Claire had this awful feeling in the pit of her stomach that made her almost sure they wouldn't be finding anything or anyone.

But, that wasn't even the worst part. The most nagging thing of it all was the sticking question.

Why us?


	3. Chapter 3

"I just can't believe this. Where could everyone have gone? Why is everyone gone? Is this some sort of sick joke, I mean, it has to be." Abby fretted, trying to find a solution to this madness.  
Her, Anedria, Jack were all sitting in the back seat. Anedria sat in the middle, looking at Abby with worried eyes. That was the thing, Anedria was always concerned, hence why she made such a good friend.  
"Abby, I'm sure we'll be fine." Her friend tried to comfort, but it wasn't working.  
All Abby could think about was her family back in Florida. Her mother and step-father both lived there, or used to live there, she reminded herself dreadfully.  
She couldn't bear to think of her mother just dissapearing. Her mother was everything to her, she had been there when both her real father and ex-step dad had left. The two girls had been closer than most mother and daughters. They shared every little detail of their lives with each other. And now, she was just gone, abandoning the only child she ever had.  
A hand rubbed Abby's shoulder and she glanced over to see Anedria staring at her. Just from the look in her friends eyes, she could tell Anedria knew what she was thinking about.  
"We'll fix this." Her friend promised, but it was an empty promise, this was a problem none of them could fix.  
"Sawyer, where are we going exactly?" Finn asked from the front seat, he was ringing his hands.  
Abby had never thought how frightening this must be for the two twins. They were both on vacation in America to see their friends and now, not only were they involved in this mess, but they were in a completely foreign land.  
"I think Claire is leading the way to the Grove. It's usually the busiest place in LA on Saturday." Sawyer answered, his knuckles were white against the steering wheel.  
Abby nodded, knowing this was true. The Grove was a full out shopping venue, filled with food places, top notch shops, and entertainment. But, from the looks of the still empty streets, she didn't have much hope to find anyone there.  
Her eyes flicked to a movement in the corner of her eye and saw Jack rubbing small circles into the back of Anedria's hand with his thumb. Her best friend was hardly looking at the boy, but she didn't show any signs of pulling away.  
Abby couldn't blame her. All the whole group needed right now was comfort. All their families and other friends have been wiped away, all everyone had was each other.

They pulled up to the Grove within fifteen minutes.  
And, as everyone had expected, it was completely empty.

There were no signs of life anywhere. Stray papers filtered the worn down pavement, shops showed closed signs from the night before. It was a nightmare, seeing this once full of life place run to down to ten young adults standing together in confusion.  
"Bloody hell," Sam said, running a hand through his wild, dark hair.  
"Yeah, you can say that again." Zayla agreed, kicking a stray soda can.  
Abby crossed her arms, suddenly cold, she wasn't sure if it were the chill of early spring in the air or the fear coursing through her blood.  
"You alright?" A voice said beside her and she turned to find Cyr.  
Abby gave him a slight smile, trying to hold herself together. She liked Cyr, and she didn't want to have a complete breakdown now in front of him.  
"I'll be fine, just a shock." Abby said convincingly.

"Hello?" Claire shouted out of nowhere, cupping her hands around her mouth to reinforce the effect of her scream.  
Her voice echoed eerily throughout the Grove. Needless to say, there was no response, just the dead sound of wind against brick.  
"I'm going to call Marcus." Jack announced, walking a bit away from the group.  
The rest of the group stayed put, all of them looking around, having no clue what to do. What could they do?  
Then it hit Abby. They could do absolutely anything. The world was theirs. Money didn't mean absolutely anything anymore. All the nice houses, the mac books, the good food, everything was there and in reach. All the things she thought she'd never be able to afford, were free.  
She started to smile. Maybe this wasn't as bad as everyone had thought. This could turn for the better. Let's see, there were a total of thirteen known left humans. There was tons of space, tons of time. They could travel, see the world, explore. Do everything and anything they've ever planned on doing.  
"What's up with you?" Zayla asked, nudging Abby gently.  
The girl just smirked and turned to her older friend. "I was just thinking, if this is all true and real, if we're the only ones left, you know, how bad could this really be? We all have each other and everything is here for us, food, clothes, shelter. We can have everything. This isn't really all that bad." She finished and Zayla stared at her for a moment.  
"Well, I guess if you're looking at the positive side of things." Zayla commented.

Jack walked back to the group after ten minutes, he didn't seem as bothered as before, in fact, he was actually smiling.  
"You'll never guess what the boys found wandering down London." He started, a crazy look in his green eyes.  
He waited for the group to start guessing, but no one did. "Well, go ahead Jack, or Finn, whichever one you are -I'm too exhausted to care- we don't have all fucking day." Claire said with her usual sass, she looked about ready to light up another cigarette with the amount of annoyance in her expression.  
Jack raised his eyebrows at the girl before recomposing and stating. "They found the boys from One Direction wandering the streets."  
Everyone glanced at each other in complete and utter surprise. No one spoke for a moment or two, but Zayla broke the silence with excited yells.  
"They found One fucking Direction. Ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod. That means Niall is with them, which means I get to meet my baby!" Her face was only filled with happiness, any hint of sadness was wiped away and forgotten.  
"Are you trying to tell me that I get to meet Liam Payne?!" Claire started, a grin also forming on her elfish face.  
Murmurs of excitement passed throughout the group, Claire and Zayla were fangirling with one another, holding each other in a moment of complete ecstasy. But, being the voice of reason out of the small group, Sawyer spoke up.  
"One problem, boys and girls." That quieted everyone down. "They're in England, while we're on the west coast of North America."  
Abby rolled her eyes, of course Sawyer would be the one to ruin their new found hope. It wasn't that she didn't like Sawyer, she just hated how he could be so realistic and utterly negative sometimes.  
"Well, I suppose that is a slight problem," Finn agreed, looking up towards the sky as if imagining them taking off and flying to England.  
'Wait, that's it!' Abby reminded herself. She knew how to work a plane, maybe not in the best way, and maybe not a huge commercial plane. But, she could definitely work one that was big enough to fit the group.  
Her first step-dad was a pilot, and a fantastic one at that. He was very into his planes, so into it that his obsession had rubbed off onto Abby. When she had turned twelve, Daniel, her step-dad, had taken her out flying on a two seater plane for her first time, and it was magic.  
It wasn't a difficult process, checking engines and weather was a bit more difficult than actually flying the damned thing. But, she could get them all to England, she knew she could.  
"I can fly us." Abby spoke up, and she could have sworn every head turned her way and all their eyes were filled with surprise, shock, etc etc.  
"What?" She asked, slightly offended. "I don't only drink and smoke! I'm actually smart, if given the chance."  
"Oh gosh, we're all going to die and dying is so lame." Claire spoke, rubbing a hand down her face.  
"No, she's right. Abby, that's brilliant, I didn't even think of that!" Anedria started agreeing with her friend, a big smile on her face.  
"Uh, Anedria," Jack started, putting a hand on her shoulder and giving Abby a wary glance. "I don't know if flying a plane would be the best idea."  
Abby put her hands on her hips, glaring at the British boy. "I'm not an idiot. I can fly a fucking plane. And how else do you suppose we get to England then, hmm? Please, enlighten us Mr. Suggestion."  
He looked a little taken aback and Abby had to admit she felt sort of proud of herself, but the gnawing feeling in stomach at the sight of his hand on her friends shoulder wouldn't go away. She didn't like them together. It was wrong.  
"You guys, I've been flying with Abby before. I know she can do it." Anedria said this mostly to Jack, who still didn't look very convinced.  
"You know what?" Claire stated, throwing her hands up in defeat. "Fuck it, just fuck it! Whatever, you know? We're the only ones left on this mad earth, so let's get drunk and smoke a lot of fucking pot and fly to fucking British land to be with some fucking hot british boys. Who's feeling it?"  
Everyone gave her a crazy glance, but Abby, who was feeling a bit insane herself. She was just glad that Claire was sticking up for her like this.  
"Let's just vote." Sawyer reasoned.  
"Okay, all in favor of Abby flying us to England." Cyr said.  
A chorus of I's rang up, it was Claire, Zayla, Anedria, Finn, Sawyer, and Cyr who all agreed. Sam, Louis, and Jack all gave each other worried glances.  
"Well, majority rules. Guess we're going to England, mother fuckers!" Abby stated in a happy tone.  
"Guess we should be probably find an airport, right?" Cyr suggested and everyone agreed, the three who didn't vote yes rather grumpily agreed.  
"Come along then, to LAX we go!"  
And the group was off again.


	4. Chapter 4

The drive to LAX was rather short, considering it was only a half hour drive and with Claire in the lead and the streets empty, she was pushing 90 mph. Zayla, who sat in the passenger, clung to fabric of the seat. She felt slightly scared as she watched her best friend push the pedal further, a crazed smile lighting her features.

"Uh, Claire, maybe you should, I don't know, slow down a bit?" Zayla suggested in a quiet tone.

"What was that? Go faster? Maybe hit something? Let's do this."

And she went that much faster, pushing down to 110.

"Jesus Christ, woman. We might be killed on a plane as it is, we don't need a car accident." Sam spoke up from the backseat, where he was squished between Cyr and Louis.

"Fine, but you're all scared bitches." Claire muttered morosely, slowing down to 75.

Zayla checked behind them in the mirror and saw Sawyer driving about fifty feet back, he was obviously trying to keep up, but was obviously confused as to why she kept speeding and slowing down.

They got to LAX without dying, which was a plus. But, of course, all the boys were starving, which meant a constant stream of complaints.

"Zayla, why don't you go make me a sandwich?" Sam pouted, slinging a tattooed arm around her shoulder. A small blush crept onto her cheeks.

Abby laughed from behind the two. "Ha, like Zayla would make anyone something to eat. She has to beg others for food as it is."  
"Thanks, Abigail!" Zayla said sarcastically, sharing a secret look with her younger friend. Abby knew Zayla liked Sam, but the other girl just gave her a knowing smirk.

"Ok losers, sass is my forte. So let's get you all some food so you'll be quiet." Claire said, lighting up her last cigarette. "Fuck, I need to find some more of these, and maybe some vodka."

"Okay, everyone split up. Go find food, clothes, whatever you need or want and meet back here in a half hour." Sawyer suggested and everyone agreed.

Abby went off with Cyr, Sawyer, and Louis, while Jack pulled Anedria away in a different direction, leaving Claire to send a glare at the British boy's back.  
"Okay, I'm going to go find some of my extremely needed items. Will one of you boys please get Zayla some food? Jesus fucking christ." the pale blonde huffed.

Claire walked off, kicking at an empty cardboard box whilst angrily smoking, which left Finn, Sam, and Zayla. She looked around nervously for a second before Sam started talking.

"Well, come along then, Zay and Finn, Finn the better twin." And with that, he practically started skipping down the abandoned airport lounge.

It was weird seeing such a busy place so empty. Well, it was weird seeing any place so ghostly. But, all the little shops, Starbucks, McDonalds, tourist areas, were all vacant. Planes were unattended outside, cans and luggage lay forgotten. The only sounds in the airport were echos from the other groups.

"I wonder if they have a Taco Bell somewhere here." Sam pondered, looking around, his dark eyes gazing past everything.

"Uh, mate, you do realize even if we do find one, there won't be any workers, right?" Finn asked, walking after his friend with both hands in his pockets.

"Oh shit, that's right." He remembered, and Zayla couldn't help but laugh lightly at his forgetfulness. He smiled and shrugged in her direction. "But, I can bet you anything I could make a kick ass burrito, better than any of those shitty workers."  
"Sam?" Zayla asked.  
"Yeah,"  
"Shut up," She smiled, letting him know she was only joking. He playfully stuck his tongue out at her and continued walking.

They did end up finding a Taco Bell. The three could still smell the scents of the mexican food coming from behind the counter.

And, luckily, there were some pre-made burritos, tacos, and crunchwraps that they heated up in the microwave placed in the far bar, which was most likely put there for workers on lunch breaks.

The group sat down, with Zayla next to Finn and Sam across from them. He didn't hesitate in plowing through his food with hunger. Then again, Zayla was no different, just a bit slower and cleaner about eating.

"Do you really think Abby will be able to get us to England?" Sam asked after finishing his, not first, not second, but third taco.  
Zayla paused, knowing Sam was one of the people who hadn't voted yes. "Well, I think so. I mean, I know she's comes off as a bit crazy, but when she wants to do something, she'll do it."

This didn't really seem to put his mind at rest, but he just shrugged and continued to eat.

"So, Zayla, aren't you going to miss it here?" Finn asked when they started to finish up.

She shrugged, taking a sip from her pink lemonade. "Sort of. I mean, I didn't really want to move to LA in the first place, but for school reasons, I did. I miss all the trees and nature back in Wisconsin. It was gorgeous, most of the time." Zayla admitted wistfully, looking down and remembering her childhood.  
He nodded, and then gave her a reassuring smile. "Trust me, England has plenty of that. Especially if you go up north, loads of sheep." He gave a little shudder, as if remembering a something bad, which caused her to laugh.

"Okay, enough talk about the homeland and sheep. We've got to go." Sam cut in, giving Finn an odd look, it could have been jealousy flashing in his eyes, but as soon as it had come, it had gone.

Zayla decided to shrug it off, rising from her seat and throwing out their wrappers, though they really didn't have to. "Well, come on, boys." She said before exiting.

They met back up with the group five minutes late. Apparently, Sam needed something to drink with him on the plane, and after looking for well over ten minutes, Finn randomly pulled out sodas and dragged the taller boy away.

And, of course, with them being late, Claire was having a fit, which wasn't very surprising. "What the fuck, dudes? Sawyer said a half hour, it's been like forty five minutes." She had a grocery bag filled with cigarette cartons and another filled with alcohol. No one questioned this.

"That's real nice, Claire." Jack spoke up, pointedly looking down at the bags. Anedria and him were also walking up late, which didn't help with Claire's mood at all.

"I don't believe I asked you, you scrawny prick." She shot back.

'Oh, fuck' Zayla thought, starting to inch closer to her friend. She knew Claire hated it when her actions were insulted in any way, shape, or form.  
"Claire, that's enough." Anedria jumped in, glaring a little bit at her sister and then giving Jack, who looked ready to speak up, a warning look.  
"Can we all just keep the peace for a while guys, I mean, we're the only ones left, so we're going to have to get along, yeah?" She continued, and Zayla noticed Jack's eyes visibly soften and his shoulders relaxed when he realized he had upset her.

"Just do me a favor, and keep him away from me." Claire finally concluded, and Zayla saw Finn grimace a little bit, knowing he should probably jump in to defend his brother, but not wanting to take a chance at Claire's wrath.

"Hey! Faggots!" Abby shouted, breaking the cold tension of the group. Her small figure was running towards them in excitement. A smile was full blown across her features.

"Can we help you, Anal Abby?" Claire questioned, tossing the butt of her cigarette away.

Abby paused, giving Claire a semi-mock glare. "I told you not to call me that." Abby whined, while Anedria and Zayla snickered, sharing glances with each other. Calling Abby 'Anal Abby' was an inside joke none of them would ever dare to tell the boys.

"Anyways," Abby started again, regaining her posture. "Sawyer and I just finished checking the plane's stats, weather, and fuel. Everything is all set and we'll be landing in London tomorrow around eight in the morning." She finished with a pleased smile.  
"So, we're ready to leave?" Anedria tried to sum up.

"Yes, so get your lazy asses moving. Cyr, Sawyer, and Louis are picking out their seats as we speak." And that sure encouraged everyone to get moving.  
Sharing glances, Jack, Finn, Anedria, and Abby all raced to the exit, playing nudging one another like they've known each other forever, when in reality, only the two couples had.

"You alright?" Sam asked her, glancing down.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Why does everyone keep asking me that?" She wondered out loud.  
"Because this whole thing is supposed to be upsetting. If we were not flying to London right now, and we're going somewhere else, I don't know if I'd go." He admitted to her.

"Sam, stop being a little bitch with those moony eyes I've seen you giving Zayla. We have to get going." Claire cut in, accepting no bullshit. Zayla and Sam both shrugged the comment off before following her to the exit.

'This was it', Zayla thought, looking outside the windows. 'There is no turning back from here.'

But, she seemed okay with this. She could make it, all of them could.

And with one final glance at the abandoned airport, they departed.


	5. Chapter 5

"All ready for take off?" Claire's voice came on over the monitor from the cockpit. "Ok, we all know I actually don't give a shit, I just want to drink and get fucked. Peace out, losers." she sang, and her voice cut off as a laugh sounded from the pit, it was Claire laughing at her own self, which meant she was probably already tipsy.

Jack sighed and shook his head in disagreement. "How do you put up with her?" He asked Anedria, voice full of disbelief. The two of them were sitting on the 'couch' area. Turns out Abby's idea of a plane was a private jet. Anedria was resting against the wall with her legs in Jack's lap.

"I think you sort of become immune to it after living with her your whole life." She said, and he just sighed again.

"Oh, come on, Jack. She's not that bad." Anedria tried to reassure him, placing her hand over his, which was rested on her knee.

"Who's not that bad?" Claire asked, standing in front of them with a suspicious look, eyebrow cocked. A bottle of Grey Goose, half gone, was in her hands. Everyone had agreed to take her cigarettes away, in case she got tempted during the flight.

"It's nothing, Claire, really." Anedria immediately covered for Jack, who gave her a grateful look.

Claire didn't seem fooled, her unfocused eyes traveled from her face to Jack's. "You know, at the moment, I couldn't care less. I'm going to watch Skins and cry over the fact that I'm meeting Liam Payne in less than 24 hours." And with that, she disappeared to the back end of the plane.

"Okay, everyone, take off is in order!" Abby yelled from the front, where she was working with Cyr.

It was dead silence on the plane as they started take off, nervous energy practically vibrating off the plane walls. Zayla sat in one of the actual seats next to Finn, while Sam, who had taken sleeping pills, was passed out on the other couch. Louis had gone back to join Claire; seeming to be more interesting in alcohol than anything else, and Sawyer was playing minecraft in one of the upper seats.

At first the plane started to move forward slowly, then it picked up speed. Everyone who was paying attention was holding their breaths in anticipation, wide eyed looks shared throughout the confines of the plane.

Anedria grabbed for Jack's hand in her nervousness and he gave a tight squeeze.

But, turns out, there was nothing to worry about. The group was up in the air within five minutes.

"Congrats, guys, we're on our way to London. Now, sit back and chill for the next eight hours." Abby shrilled over the speaker.

Anedria calmed down after a while, leaning back up against the wall. Jack gave smirked at her, "I thought you said you trusted her?"

"Yeah, well, saying that on safe ground and saying that while you're ten thousand feet in the air are two very different things." She argued playfully.

He smiled, crinkles forming by his eyes, which of course, caused her to smile. She didn't know what it was about Jack, there was just something about him that made her feel so safe and happy.

"Anedria!" A voice called. Sawyer was turned towards them, he had his headphones out and game paused.

"Yes, Sawyer?" She asked, leaning forward to see him.

"I need your help." He whined slightly.

She rolled her eyes at him playfully. "I'm coming, you big baby."

She got up, feeling a bit wobbly standing in a plane, but she moved forwards towards Sawyer. But, on her way up, she noticed Zayla and Finn both sleeping, her head was on his shoulder and he rested his head against hers. A slight eye roll took place as she continued on to Sawyer.

The older boy was sitting with his macbook balanced on his lap, headphones resting around his neck. Anedria sat down next to her, pulling her knees up.

"You called?" She asked, a slight smile playing at her lips.

Sawyer nodded, but he wasn't smiling, which sort of annoyed her. The two of them had been best friends ever she had moved to California, but he seemed distant ever since the night before.

"Well, spit it out." She prodded, hitting him on the arm lightly.

He let out a low sigh, "Anedria, I just wanted to talk to you about, well, Jack." He whispered low enough that only she could hear his voice over the sound of the jet's engines.

The girl ran a hand through her red-brown hair, letting it fall. 'What does everyone have against Jack?' She questioned to herself in her head.

"What about?" She also kept her tone low.

He bit his lower lip, obviously not wanting to hurt her feelings. "I just don't really trust him. I mean, as a friend I do, but not with you." He finally admitted, glancing up to see her reaction.

She thought this over for a moment. Jack wasn't bad, or he hadn't done anything to cause Anedria not to trust him. She even liked his quirky, witty personality. But, with everyone saying he wasn't trustworthy she couldn't just ignore it and be okay with it.

Finally, she smiled at Sawyer, who had been glancing at her worriedly. "Sawyer, you know I can take care of myself. It's not like him and I are dating or anything, I mean, we just met not that long ago." Anedria tried to be reassuring, but she could tell he wasn't buying it.

"Anedria-" He started, but she was already getting up.

"I'm really tired, and not to mention this plane ride is giving me a lot of anxiety, so I'm going to go take a nap." Her arms were crossed as she stood.

He sighed once again, before stressing a tight smile. "Just be safe, A, okay?"

"Always am." She replied before heading back to her place with Jack.

She found the boy with his earbuds in, obviously listening to music by the way his head bobbed up and down with the beat.

Anedria sat down right next to him, plucking up his phone from where it rested on his lap. He smirked at her as she scrolled through his music library, settling on a Bon Iver song. Jack didn't talk or ask anything when he handed over an earpiece and they both settled down.

"Promise to wake me up when we land?" She asked, as the looping sounds of 'Woods' rang through both their ears.

He chuckled quietly. "I'm sure Abby's landing won't be as good as her take off, but, yes, of course."

And with that, they both drifted into sleep.

Unfortunately, Anedria didn't wake up to Jack's gentle voice, but her sister screaming at the top of her lungs. "Wake the fuck up, losers!"

"Oh god, not again." Anedria murmured, her voice hoarse from sleep.

Jack stirred beside her and mumbled something unintelligible before burying his face into her shoulder.

"Anedria, get up!" He sister shouted again, completely ignoring Jack who was blinking the sleep out of his eyes. "Look what I've got." She tempted, waving a bottle of Jack Daniels in front of her face.

"Claire, not in the mood." Anedria grumbled, pushing her sister away.

Claire pouted, hand on hip, flushed and obviously drunk. "But A, I've already finished Skins and I just want to have deep, drunk conversation with my lovely little sister."

Anedria finally fully opened her eyes. Claire was having a hard time standing up straight, her pale hair was twisted wildly, large crystal eyes unfocused. She had changed into jean shorts and a loose, lacy white shirt.

"Come on, Claire, I just woke up. I don't think I could handle any alcohol right now." She finally said, and it was true, she really wasn't one for waking up and slamming back hard liqour. Especially when they would be meeting new people soon.

Without realizing it, her and Jack had become tangled on the small couch, both their legs intertwined like the night before and the chord for the earbuds a mess beside them.

"Stop being such a mood killer and come party with moi. I mean, we get to meet One Direction in less than two hours, might as well get rid of the nerves." Her sister continued in attempt to persuade Anedria.

She bit her lip. Claire knew she could guilt Anedria into almost anything. "Anedria, you know you don't have to if you don't want to." Jack piped in, propped up on his elbow.

Claire glared at the boy, narrowed eyes darkening. "And you know that you can shut your pretty mouth, right Harries?"

Anedria looked up at her sister, completely astonished. She glanced back to Jack who didn't look that surprised at Claire's outburst. The two glared at each other, making her feel uncomfortable and confused.

"Okay, that's enough from both of you." Anedria started, sitting up and detaching herself from the earbud. "Claire, you're drunk and upset. Go take some Advil and lie down, like you said, we'll be meeting the boys in a while and you don't want to make a bad first impression, do you?" Her sister reluctantly shook her head, the flush of anger wearing off. "And Jack," She turned back to glance at him. His emerald eyes immediately softened. "Just, try to be civil." He also reluctantly nodded.

"Good, now I'm going back to sleep." Anedria finalized, grabbing a throw blanket from the top of the couch.

Seeming to realize her sister wasn't going to budge, Claire sighed quietly and walked away, obviously too drunk to fight back.

After a minute, Anedria laid back down on her side, facing Jack. He gave her a soft sort of smile. "Sorry about that, Claire is, well... she's Claire."

He laughed lightly, "Alright, Anedria, that makes a lot of sense."

She sighed softly. "Soon enough, you'll put together how and why we are who we are." She promised him, closing her eyes.

She heard Jack say something else, but couldn't make it out, she was already asleep.


	6. Chapter 6

'Fuck him, fuck her, fuck everyone.' Claire thought to herself, slamming the door to the back 'bedroom' shut. Her mind was racing with anger from the intensity of her annoyance. It could be just the intoxication thinking for her, but she didn't want to realize that.

She was furious, not only at Jack and Anedria, but with herself. She couldn't act like this; she was Claire, she was cool and calm and collected. Never, ever emotional and messy.

'Go take some Advil and lie down' She had caught her little sister saying.

"Yeah, A, I'll just take some Advil and lie down. That's what I always do, how fucking great." Claire said outloud to herself, frustration building in her core, making her empty stomach churn.

In her rage, she stomped to the bathroom. It was small, with only a single mirror, sink, and a toilet. But, the way it looked wasn't anything she was concerned about.

Her slim hand went for the mirror, tugging it open to reveal a medicine cabinet. A smirk spread across her face as she saw a bottle of painkillers. 'Perfect' she thought, popping the bottle open with an air of expertise.

She tipped the bottle in her other hand, letting tons of white pills spread out over her pale skin. She tipped ten in her mouth, swallowing and chasing the pills down with a burning pull from the bottle of alcohol.

It wasn't that Claire was stupid and knew that you weren't supposed to mix alcohol and pills, it was that she did know you weren't supposed to do that, and everyone knew rules were made to be broken.

She smiled lazily, taking another five before setting the bottle down. She leaned against the sink, waiting for the high to settle in, the familiar feel reeling in the back of her mind. It shouldn't take more than ten minutes, but it felt like an eternity to her.

After six minutes had passed and two more swigs had been drunk, she heard footsteps. "Claire?" She recongized the voice immediately. It was Zayla.

The door to the bathroom opened and a sleepy eyed Zayla walked in. "Ugh, I just woke up and did you see your sister? I mean, shit dude, she must really-" Her friend paused, looking from Claire to the bottle to the pills.

"Oh, you fucking didn't." She said in a scared, hushed voice.

"Anedria!" She started yelling, immediately going into action, picking up the pills and flushing what was left of them, and then continued to steal the bottle from Claire's slack grip.

All Claire could do was stand there. Her head was feeling fuzzy, and her stomach felt tight. Zayla's yelling didn't help anything. Each wave of sound was a direct hit to her brain.

"What's wrong?" Anedria rushed in, green eyes vivid.

"Your sister was just in here popping pills and chasing it down with this." Zayla explained hysterically, gesturing to the bottle.

"Oh, fucking hell, Claire."

But, she couldn't pay attention to them. Her head was in the clouds, and she couldn't find any control or sense of panic. Her knees were wobbly, her mind numb. She felt like she could fall over.

"Shit," Anedria yelped, catching Claire before she could smash her head against the hard sink.

"Help me, would you Zayla?" Claire heard from Anedria, though her voice was coming in and out like a static radio.

Together they got the semiconscious girl to the edge of the toilet seat. Zayla took a step back, making it obvious that she wasn't about to stick her finger down the girls throat.

Anedria couldn't care less at the moment, they had no other choice. There were no such things as doctors or hospitals anywhere, and not to mention they were flying over the ocean with no immediate help.

"Fucking hell," Anedria whispered harshly before attempting to pry Claire's mouth open. But, her sister wasn't having any of that.

"No, no, no," She slurred, trying to hold her hand up to do if herself. "I can do it myself, asshole. Go away."

And she did just that, it might have been done with trembling hands and rough jabs, but in the end, most of the pills ended back up.

Anedria attempted to comfort her sister while she did this, but it didn't seem like it helped Claire at all. She was going into one of 'those' moods. One of the moods where all she wanted to do was sleep and listen to the kind of music that made you sad. 'Sad in the best way possible', Claire had always said.

"Come on," Anedria urged, getting Zayla to help Claire up once everything had been cleaned. The bathroom smelt straight of alcohol and vomit, a disgusting combination, but not an uncommon one.

"Just lay her down and stay in here, alright?" Claire heard Anedria say to Zayla, who must've nodded because the door to the small bedroom clicked shut as someone exited.

With the walls so paper thin, Claire could hear everything Anedria was saying. She was explaining to the rest of the group what had just occurred. Even if she had the energy to be embarrassed, she wouldn't be.

"Zayla?" Claire, who was still in a state of intoxication, whispered.

"Mhm?" Her friend responded right away.

"I wasn't trying to kill myself." Claire spoke, knowing what she was saying was completely true. She just needed a little action, a distraction from the endless whir of her mind, and that was the perfect one- or so it had seemed in the moment.

"Yeah, Claire, I know." Zayla quietly responded, the verge of defeat in her tone, playing around on her phone from the other side of the bed.

With a heavy sigh, she fell against the soft pillows, shutting her eyes. The room felt like it was spinning and her mind felt like it was deteriorating. But, that was normal after what she had just done. It wasn't something that was unusual, for Claire anyway.

With a troubled mind and boneless limbs, she fell into a fitful sleep.

"Attention, passengers, we've officially landed in London without dying. Now, you can all bow to me and call me your ruler, because that's what I am, ya know." Abby's voice stirred Claire to a rather rude awakening..

Her head felt swollen and if she didn't think she had ever known true exhaustion until this moment. Opening her heavy eyelids, she saw that Zayla was pulling on a pair of boots, shrugging her arms in a jacket, and straigtening her bed ridden hair.

"We're in London?" Claire's voice was groggy and broke mid-question.

Zayla turned to her, wide brown eyes bright. "Yeah, c'mon, time to meet the boys!" Her friend could hardly hold down her excitement. She was bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet subconciously.

"Right, I almost forgot" she replied, sitting up cautiously and putting her pounding head in her hands.

"How could you 'almost forget'?" Zayla questioned, staring at her friend with worry and disbelief.

Starting to feel herself slip into her normal, sassy self, Claire responded. "I don't fucking know, maybe because I was passed out and had a lot on my mind." She then continued to find her own pair of shoes, buried somewhere beneath the sheets. "C'mon then."

And with that, the two girls exited the 'room'.

Now, Claire expected to get a few worried glances, but when she walked in the main area, everyone looked at her like she was some sort of timebomb, patiently ticking and ready to go off any second.

Well, besides Jack. The boy was sitting next to Anedria, of course, and he just gave her a sort of glare, which she happily returned.

Her sister pretended to not notice the two, obviously still upset with Claire. Biting her lip at that pain still storming in her head, she looked out the window.

Sure enough, Abby had landed in a field that looked to be on the outskirts of London. If you leaned to the right abit and squinted a little, you could see the eye of London along with tall buildings.

"So, where are the other 'survivors'?" Cyr asked, he was lounging on a sofa, obviously tired after staying up with Abby the whole flight.

"Calling Marcus right now." Jack quickly responded, holding the cell phone to his ear. He was tapping his foot rather impatiently.

His friend answered within moments. "Hey, we made it alive." Jack began, looking towards the window, then at Anedria, then back at the floor.

"Yeah, mate, we're literally right outside of London, towards the east side."

Pause.

"You can't miss us, we're in a big fucking jet." He laughed.

Pause.

"Alright, see you in a little bit then."

And with that, he hung up, a smile still in place.

"So, where are they?" Abby asked, walking into the lounge area with a cocktail in hand.

"Really, Abs, I think we should all chill on the whole alcohol thing for a little bit." Anedria said, glancing at Claire.

Everyone mutually agreed, nodding their heads and murmuring 'yeah's. Personally, Claire was disgusted with all of them.

"Well, you can all be prudes, but I'll do my own thing."

"I think we already figured that out." Jack shot at her, obviously talking about her episode earlier.

"You know what, Harries, you can just-" But, Sawyer, being the daddy of the group, cut in.

"Okay, enough with the arguing. Let's just try and get through one day at a time." Then he turned back to Jack. "When will they be here?"

"Marcus said about fifteen minutes or so, they're driving in two different cars of some sort. Then, I guess, we'll figure it out from there."

Everyone nodded again, Sam looked ready to pass out again, while Louis, Zayla, and Abby were all bouncing up and down, ready to go.

"Well, fuck you guys, I'm going out for a cigarette." Claire announced, throwing on her sweater she had tossed aside earlier.

Surprisingly, there was no snarky comment from Jack, which didn't really please her. She loved the adrenaline from a good argument. But, since Anedria was already made with her, she didn't try to push it.

The door to the jet was a little tricky to get open, but she eventually figured it out, pushing a lever up, while holding a button down, and swinging the huge piece of metal off.

The outside air was damp and calming, the freshness of it calmed Claire down a bit. Almost absentmindedly, she pulled out a Newport and lit it with a quick flick of her thumb across a lighter.

The smoke also helped calm her wicked mind, and she was starting up a plan already that would get Anedria to forgive her. Her sister might be good at accepting apologies, but the girl could hold a grudge like no other.

Thinking through everything, she didn't really take much notice when she lit a second cigarette and halfway through it, she heard the sound of car engines.

Everyone else must have heard it through the open jet door, because in the next second they were all piling out. Claire couldn't help, but roll her eyes when Jack helped Anedria down the small jump to the ground.

_'Oh, A, if only you knew the truth.' _She thought bitterly.

Claire didn't say a word to any of them, Zayla and Abby were obviously fangirling quietly to one another while Cyr glanced down at Abby with a look of jealousy.

_'This is going to be quite interesting.' _Claire thought with a devilish smirk appearing on her face.

"What's that look for?" Sawyer quietly asked her, the older boy had his arms crossed, obviously not used to the chilly weather.

Claire shrugged, "I just love seeing things unravel and explode into chaos." She openly admitted to him.

He sighed in response, catching Claire off guard, but when she looked up at her friend, she found him to be looking at Anedria talking quickly to Jack.

"Oh, fuck no." Claire smirked, causing Sawyer to look back at her, his eyes widening when he found out she had seen what he had been looking towards.

"No, no, Claire, it's not-"

"Oh, Sawyer, shut up. I'm not about to tell anyone, besides, I like seeing this work out on their own. It gives the whole show more…" She fought to find the right words. "excitement."

This time Sawyer sighed in relief, then gave her a lazy smile. "You're really odd, you know that?"

"Yea, yea, sure thing, I've only heard it a thousand times." She took one last drag of her cigarette before smutting it out with her boot.

By then they could see the two vehicles, two big Chevy Expresses, the type of van bands tour in. They came trampling down the grass, none of the drivers being exactly 'careful'.

The whole group had gone silent as the vans approached. Claire could make out the figures in each vehicle, but not individual faces.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Jack make a grab for her sisters hand in a protective way, as if he wanted to let the newcomers now she was already interested in him.

Claire hid her annoyance, wanting to pull out another cigarette and smoke till she couldn't breathe properly, but she held back.

The two vans parked right next to the jet, and the doors swung open.

At first, Claire didn't care much about the newcomers. She didn't like to openly fangirl about things, but something seemed to shift inside of her when she saw one of them.

He had dark hair and eyes to match, and he already had a smile in place as he stepped out. It was a gentle smile, soft and caring.

But, the feeling in Claire's chest scared her and she immediately pushed back any sort of emotion.

Despite the shift, she had to put on a cold front, she couldn't let anyone sink past her casing, because if they did, all hell would break loose.


	7. Chapter 7

'Ohmygod, Ohmygod, Ohmygod'.

That's all Abby could process as the newbies stepped out of their cars, well, tour vans more likely. It reminded her of the vans bands would tour in, the many seats and multiple windows.

There were seven of them in total, all boys, of course. She knew who five of them were already, One Direction, everyone knew who they were. Her heart was practically racing out of her chest she was so nervous and excited.

The other three were obviously friends of all the other boys. Abby somewhat recalled them from watching their youtube channels.

The infamous Marcus Butler, Caspar, and Alfie unloaded from one of the vans, all of them looking a bit shaken and confused. Relief seemed to spread through both groups at seeing one another alive and whole.

Soon enough friends were greeting other friends, embracing each other in hugs and smiling as they greeted one another.

Claire was hanging back from the group, arms crossed in a defensive stance and sending a glare to anyone who looked at her for too long.

Abby was sticking close to Zayla, holding herself back from clinging onto the older girl's arm as the One Direction boys stepped out and warily came up to the groups of friends.

Marcus, a tall boy with a mess of mousy brown hair, seemed to realize introductions would be the best place to start. "Uh, right, well for those of you who don't know, I'm Marcus, this is Alfie, Caspar," He indicated the two boys standing next to him, an awkwardly tall boy with dark hair and another boy who seemed to have a permanent smirk upon his face.

Seeming to realize that Marcus thought it'd be awkward to introduce the other boys, the one with curly hair seemed to speak up. "I'm Harry," He stepped back, hands in his pockets. Then the others seemed to take turns introducing themselves.

"Liam"

"Zayn"

"Niall"

"And, I'd be Louis." The last one was smiling confidently, hands on hips and glancing around at everyone. Abby met his gaze with her heart beating fast, trying not to gasp at how surprisingly blue his eyes were. Feeling the need to match his confidence, she flashed him a playful grin.

"Right, well this is Finn, Anedria, Louis, Sam, Sawyer, Cyr, Zayla, Claire, Abby, and I'm Jack." Jack spoke up, taking role as a sort of leader.

Everyone was quiet for a moment, a very awkward silence. None of them honestly knew where to start. But, Claire, of course, seemed to not give a single fuck and immediately spoke up.

"So, are we just going to sit here all fucking day or are we going to do something?" The newcomers all turned their heads in surprise, but the other group just gave apologetic looks.

"Well, not with that attitude." Caspar spoke in a sarcastic murmur, getting a few laughs from others. Claire simply glared, pulling out another cigarette and lighting it with eased practice.

"First things first," Alfie said, speaking for the first time, "we need to find a place to stay."

The group exchanged a look of agreement, nodding their heads. "Well, kids, let's get going." Sawyer clapped his hands together in excitement. "Time to go house shopping."


	8. Chapter 8

The group split up into the two vehicles, one team consisting of Abby, Cyr, Louis, Sawyer, Harry, the other Louis, Zayn, Jack, and Anedria. The other group was filled with Niall, Liam, Sam, Marcus, Alfie, Caspar, Claire, Finn, and Zayla.

It was simply decided that Jack and Finn would be the drivers, considering the two boys seemed to know London better than the back of their hands. Each van was filled and slightly crowded, Zayla had to fight her way into the back seat, settling herself down beside Claire, who continued to look pissed off at the world.

"What's up with you?" Zayla asked, not bothering to be cautious, she had known Claire for her entire life and didn't fear the girl whatsoever.

She shrugged her narrow shoulders, resting her head against her hand and staying silent. Having no idea what was wrong, Zayla was at a loss of what to do, so she turned forward and waited for the rest of the boys to load in.

The blonde boy, Caspar, took the seat next to her, smiling brightly. Zayla returned the gesture, not really knowing what to say or how to start a conversation.

Turns out she didn't have anything to worry about, because in the next second he was talking up a storm, in a slight sarcastic and abnormally monotone voice. "So, you're from America, right? Yeah, I've been there a few times. Have you ever been to Disney World? I absolutely love that one ride, you know the one with the big fall and the screaming people." He smiled dazedly, as if remembering a memory.

Zayla was a bit taken aback, which caused her to lean away from him in surprise. She wasn't used to someone so talkative or someone who had no sense of personal space, but she wasn't exactly as bothered by it as she should have been. She sort of found it...endearing.

"Caspar, calm down, I think you're scaring the poor girl." Marcus warned from the row ahead, turning around and giving Zayla an apologetic smile.

"No, it's fine." She started saying, but was tuned out by the sound of the engine starting.

Everyone seemed in place and ready to go, Alfie had taken front seat next to Finn who was chatting on the phone with, most likely, Jack.

"Where are we headed exactly?" Sam asked Finn from behind him, peeking his head around the chair.

Finn pulled the phone away from his ear, "Jack said he knows a place on the outskirts of west London that'll be big enough for all of us."

A murmur of agreement sounded throughout the van and Finn pulled the vehicle into drive, following behind Jack, who like Claire, didn't seem to care much for speed limits.

"So," Niall, a pale haired boy with a strong irish accent, started saying, "how did you guys find out?" He seemed to be directing the question towards Zayla, but Claire answered, obviously getting annoyed and irritated with the lack of personal space.

"Oh, I don't know? Maybe we went outside and realized we were the only ones left?" She snapped at the surprised boy. "How the fuck do you think we found out?"

Silence spread throughout the van before Caspar spoke up, apparently unbothered, "Is she always this pleasant?"

Sam shrugged from near the front, facing back towards them. "Believe it or not, I think she's having a good day today." Claire responded by flipping him off, turning back towards the window, delicate face pinched with anger.

Zayla, feeling the need to make up for her friend's rude behavior, cleared her throat and looked to Niall. "What about all of you? What happened?"

Now Liam turned, his big brown eyes reminding Zayla of an overgrown puppy. "Same as you guys, I suppose. We were supposed to do press and an acoustic showing in London today, and well, when no one seemed to be getting us, we drove in ourselves and ended up finding these boys." He gestured to Caspar, Marcus, and Alfie.

Liam got this sad look in his eyes and Zayla nodded in a knowing way, feeling empathy for not only him, but everyone in the van. They had all lost all of their family and former friends, absolutely everyone.

Smaller conversations started as Finn kept on the phone with Jack, occasionally speaking with Alfie. Niall and Liam seemed to seclude themselves to each other, not exactly being close with anyone else. Sam let himself fall back asleep, Marcus has his earbuds in and Claire was still dead to the world, finding great interest at the impressive architecture of London.

Zayla could see Caspar glancing at her from the corner of her eye and couldn't decide on whether to start a conversation with him or not. She was never good at starting conversations, keeping them going was simple, but she could never find a way to begin. Social awkwardness was definitely a talent of Zayla's.

Luckily, with Caspar, all you had to do was acknowledge him and he'd start chatting like there was no tomorrow. Zayla finally met his gaze and was bombarded with questions, each one seeming to have a shorter amount of time to respond to as he thought of a new one.

"Were you born in California or some place else?"

"London's really nice, don't you think so?"

"Have you ever been to Nandos? I heard it's really good."

"Are you more of a cat or dog person?"

Her eyes widened at the boy's questions, surprised at how completely random and odd they were.

"No, I've lived in Wisconsin."

"Sure, it seems nice, a bit cloudy."

"No, and it really sucks because now I can never go."

"And definitely cat."

She answered as fast as he had asked them and she saw now that he was trying to keep up with her pace, a confused look in his blue gaze.

"Oh, shit!" Niall wailed, head bent into his hands."I'll never be able to eat Nandos again." This caused laughter from anyone who was listening to their conversation.

The rest of the ride passed in the same fashion, Zayla keeping Caspar entered with the 'twenty questions' game. He seemed amused enough with her answers, ocassionaly the older boy would get distracted by something else and look out the window or shout about something or another. He definitely had ADHD, no doubt about that.

The city buildings started to thin out as they reached over two hours of driving. Trees lined the roadside and Zayla was starting to believe they had gotten lost.

The was until Jack turned the van ahead of them on a sharp left, skipping on the gravel. Finn had to act quickly to follow his brother, turning the wheel and slowing the van down as he hesitantly drove down the tree-shaded road.

After five minutes of driving down the road, Sam seemed about to open his mouth to complain, but clicked it shut when he looked more closely down the road.

"Holy shit," He said, causing everyone who wasn't looking forward to whip their heads in that direction.

And what she saw made Zayla's mouth drop open in shock.

Ahead of them was a mansion- no, not a mansion. More of a castle.

It was absolutely magnificent, huge stone pillared sides, an inactive fountain in the circular drive, large bushes cut in precise shapes. The front door was elegant and wooden, and looked almost inviting.

Finn parked the van next to Jack's and turned back to the rest of the group with a slight smirk. "Welcome home, mates."


	9. Chapter 9

"Jack, I don't know about this." Anedria spoke softly, glancing at the boy across from her. His eyes were focused on the road, but he turned to give her a quick, amused look.

"A, trust me, you'll adore this place." He reassured her with a pleasant smile, continuing to glance at her from the corner of his eye.

She tried to settle further in her seat, crossing her legs in front of her, placing her arm on the armrest to get more comfortable. The van was careering down the road at a rapid rate, bumping occasionally over the rougher spots.

The van was fairly quiet, making her more than uncomfortable as she shifted around, glancing back in the mirror.

Abby was in the far back with Cyr, Sawyer, and Louis. She was giggling softly at something the boy had said and Anedria caught sight of her resting her head against his shoulder in an affectionate sort of way. Stomach twisting, she switched her gaze and found someone watching her in the same mirror.

It was one of the boys from the band; the curly haired one, complete with bright green eyes and a constant amused smile.

Feeling a slight blush, she swiftly averted her gaze, looking back towards the window. She started tapping her foot fast, a nervous habit of hers, as they continued driving.

A warm hand rested on hers, stopping her fingers from the same sporadic tap of her feet. She moved her eyes from the window, to Jack, who gave her a reassuring smile. "Seriously, everything will be fine."

Anedria just sighed, tangling her fingers with Jack's. "I know everything will be okay, it's just that, well, I'm worried about Claire. That stunt she pulled today wasn't like her normal ones; it was too risky and careless. She never goes that far."

She could see the obvious tension in Jack's jaw at the mention of her sister, and immediately felt bad. Despite Claire being her sister, she knew the logical side of her brain was saying that her sister had been wrong and selfish to do such things, but another side was saying something was terribly wrong.

And, she couldn't help but feel guilty about Jack. Despite the fact they hadn't known each other very long at all; this whole situation was driving everyone closer to each other, especially with the frightening fact that they were the only ones left on the entire planet. But, the guilt came from worrying more about her sister than anyone else, even knowing that Claire was being self-centered and careless with her rash decisions.

"I'm sorry, I know that-" Anedria began to apologize, head down in their hands.

"No, it's fine." He began to reassure her again, seeming to force a smile. "If it had been Finn, I'd feel the same way."

He averted his eyes from the road quickly, meeting her gaze to let her know he was being honest. "Thanks, Jack." She responded gently. Giving her hand a tight squeeze, he turned back to the road, which seemed to be thinning out.

Only a few hundred feet and a sharp turn later, an absolutely huge castle-like structure sprawled ahead of them. It was undeniably magnificent, with elegant curves and a gorgeous front door. The driveway was circular with paved in stones.

"My god," A British accent sounded from the back, one Anedria didn't find familiar, and figuring it to be one of the One Direction boys.

"Jack, it's amazing. How did you know this was here?" She asked him, unbuckling her seat belt.

He smirked in a very boyish way. "Just a little place my parents used to talk about."

Everyone unloaded from the van, Abby and Cyr staying close together, Sawyer stretching from the long car ride, Louis seeming to stumble a bit, and the band boys keeping close together, as if scared to converse with anyone other than their group.

Finn's van pulled up right behind theirs, immediately unloading as well. Claire was still acting stand offish, not looking at anything or anyone, but Anedria. Her eyes had lost their usual light.

A voice sounded near her ear, "Give her some time, she'll come around, I promise." It was, of course, Jack.

"Yeah, I know." She responded, turning from her sister, but not believing the words she had just spoke.

"Shall we get started then?" Sawyer asked in excitement, turning to everyone with an energetic smile.

Sounds of agreement passed and soon all eighteen of them were pounding up the stairway. When Louis, their group Louis, tried the door it was unlocked and swung open with ease.

Gasps seemed to run throughout everyone as the inside of the house was revealed.

Despite it being built so vintage on the outside, the inside was completely modern. With a high chandelier in the front walkway, a huge glass staircase, glossy wooden floors, and arching walls, the place was the highest level of perfect.

"Anddddd," Louis, One Direction boy, began saying. "Room search starts now, first come, first serve." And continued to take off like a rocket, running up the stairs as everyone caught on and went to find their own rooms.

Anedria grabbed Jack's hand before he ran off, dragging him back towards her as everyone went up the stairs. "For some reason," She began with a clever smirk. "I highly doubt there will be eighteen rooms upstairs."

"Good thinking, A," He complimented, with a slight smile. "C'mon." Taking her hand and leading her towards a different area of the house on the ground floor.

"Perfect," Jack said from the hall, one hand in his pocket as he stood facing their chosen rooms. The two had wordlessly decided on taking rooms next to each other. Anedria had decided on a cozy room with large windows facing the backyard, and Jack was directly across the hall.

"Agreed." She replied, satisfied grin spread across her lips.

"I was here first!" A voice shouted from the upstairs, sounding faintly like Zayla starting to get whiny.

"Nope, I don't think so, I touched the door first!" An Irish accent floated downstairs, reaching Jack and Anedria's ears.

"That's because you pushed me out of the way!"

The two teenagers faced each other with looks of exasperation. "Do we have to?" He asked with a pout.

Anedria sighed, "Yup," And dragged him upstairs to figure out what was going on.

Turns out Niall and Zayla had both had their eyes on a huge room with a built in fridge. It wasn't the classiest of rooms, definitely had belonged to a rather hungry person to have had a fridge installed, but both were intent on getting it.

"I'm not moving," Niall argued stubbornly from the bed, crossing his arms in a childlike manner while Liam tried to reason with him.

"Well, neither am I." Zayla retaliated from her own area, setting her jaw in her own little determined way.

"Can you two just stop being babies and play rock-paper-scissors or something?" Liam finally caved, losing his patience and giving his friend a slight glare.

"Fuck that," They both said at the same time, and then turned to give each other glares.

"How about you two share the room?" Anedria suggested from the doorway, leaning against the frame.

Neither one of them said anything against it, but seemed to consider the proposition.

"We'd need another bed," Zayla spoke, as if trying to find something wrong with the idea.

"I'm sure we can get one in town," Liam shot back in a calm tone, giving Anedria a knowing smile as if the two of them were old friends dealing with children.

Niall uncrossed his arms and gave Zayla a questioning look, "The most important question though, do you sleep in past twelve?"

She scoffed, "Please, I don't get up till two on a good day."

"Great," Jack spoke up from the doorway by Anedria, "It's settled, we'll get a bed in town tomorrow."

And with a few murmured goodbyes, they separated ways, Liam, Jack, and Anedria leaving the two so they could get to know each other as newly made roommates.

"Hey, I'm going to go check on Finn." Jack stopped Anedria by the staircase.

"Alright, I've got to see if we can muster up something for a dinner tonight anyways." She told him.

"I'll see you in a little bit," And he turned as if to go, but hesitated and turned back to give her a quick peck on the cheek, and with a confident grin, he headed down the hall.

Anedria stood there for a moment, slightly stunned. Even though she clearly knew Jack was interested, she still wasn't expecting that, even though the notion was small, it still meant something to her.

Shaking her head and smiling, she made her way back to her new room for a quick once over to see if anything was worth keeping in there or if she had to get an entirely new wardrobe.

Though, when she opened her door she had maybe thought she had gotten confused and walked into the wrong room because a curly haired figure stood ahead of her, glancing out the windows.

But, noticing the four poster bed with wine-red sheets she realized this was the right room and Harry was obviously in the wrong room.

He turned at hearing the door open, and seemed slightly surprised to see her. "Sorry, I didn't walk into your room, did I?" He asked politely and she silently nodded.

"Right, my fault. All the other rooms upstairs were taken and I was hoping to find one down here." He smiled in a friendly way, pushing back his mop of curly hair, dimples prominent on his face.

Attempting not to swoon over his obvious good looks, she fixed her posture. "Yea, I sort of figured that would happen." He continued smiling, and gestured to the windows.

"Beautiful view you've got here."

She nodded, walking more into the room and also glancing out the windows. The backyard was even greater than the front of the home. Trees were placed beautifully along the lines, creating shadows that casted downwards. A stream ran through the back of the yard, creating a barrier between them and the forest the drifted past it.

"You know," She began, glancing at him from the corner of her, "There is a room still available right next to this one that has the same view."

He smiled at her knowingly, "That sounds very…inviting." He said, "I think I might just have to go check it out."

He turned to go, giving her one last breath taking smile. "I'd hurry before you're left room less, or worse, left to sleep in the basement." She warned, not turning around.

A soft chuckle sounded from behind her as he exited the room, ringing softly behind him as he left, marking itself in her memory.


	10. Chapter 10

"Lou," Claire whispered, knocking softly on his door.

She stood outside in the hallway, shifting anxiously from each foot, hands rubbing together to savor warmth. Despite the mansion's beautiful interior and exterior, it took awhile for the whole place to heat up and she wasn't used to the cold, wet weather of London.

"Claire," A raspy voice sounded from inside the room, "come in."

She did so, opening the door wider to reveal Louis' new room; a plain, modern looking space that was obviously created to house a guest.

Louis was sitting up, rubbing at his eyes, obviously having just woken up from a nap. His dreads were tied up in a knot, his shirt crumpled from being worn and slept in.

"What's up?" He asked, looking up at her and immediately shaking his head at her trademark devilish smirk, immediately realizing she had ulterior motives to her late visit.

"Well," She began, taking a seat on the edge of the bed, turning to him with those erratic blue eyes of hers. "I just wanted to see if you had anything that could possibly produce vivid hallucinations or cause frequent black outs?"

He stared at her for a moment before laughing, "I hope this will be for you and not to harm someone else, hmm?" He questioned in a playful tone.

"No, I was actually planning on drugging everyone's coffee just for fun." Claire responded in a way that was completely serious, but painfully sarcastic, if you were intelligent enough to piece together Claire. She tapped her hand impatiently on her leg, eager to get her hands on something dangerous.

Lou sighed, but proceeded to swing his legs over the side of the bed, and made his way over to a red backpack on the floor. As he unzipped the front pocket, he spoke to her, "Claire, I hope you know Anedria and the others will find out, like she always does, and then you'll be in even more trouble with her than before."

Claire shrugged, chin raised high, always defiant. "I'm the older sister, I'm sure I can take care of myself."

He scoffed before pulling out a little baggie containing a snow white power. Claire felt her body respond in excitement, having to practically hold herself down from jumping off the bed to grasp the precious drug.

"Alright, only four lines, okay?" He warned, pulling out a dull blade from the same pocket and making his way to the bedside table. He ran his hand over the surface, brushing away any dust or material aside to make it completely smooth.

Louis started to pour the powder out, but Claire stopped him with thin, impatient hands. She grabbed the blade and the baggie with an air of skill, pouring out some of the contents, and began making thick lines, scraping every last morsel together.

Lou didn't say anything as he watched, examining the way she did the movements so smoothly as if she had been doing this for years, and for all he knew, she had been.

"Do you have a dollar?" She asked, finishing the lines as she carelessly dropped the blade off to the side.

The boy reached into one of his pockets and pulled out a crumpled British note. With a slight roll of her eyes, she straightened the note out and rolled it into an even cylinder.

Without another word, she put one end of the note to her nostril and the other end to the edge of the first neat line and, without hesitation, held the one side of her nose and breathed in deeply with the other.

The powder burned as it made it's way up and into her bloodstream, it felt like breathing in gravel and she was sure a nosebleed was on it's way. But, that didn't stop her from continuing on to the second, then third, and finally fourth. Using the thin sleeve of her shirt, she wiped away the slow trail of blood from her nose, smearing it across her pale face.

With a deep, relieved sigh, she tossed the now useless note aside, waiting for the rush to take over. She had practically forgotten about Louis, but she could faintly hear him organizing his own lines.

The high hit her without so much as a warning, picking up her heartbeat to an irregular measure. She felt as if her skin was made of fire and her lungs had been coated with ice.

But, she smiled despite everything.

This is what she loved most, the rush and feel of being messed up, like she was a stick of dynamite. She felt invincible, maybe even infinite.

A giggle escaped past her lips as she remembered that overused quote from a book she had read years ago, 'And I swear, in that moment, we were infinite.'

How dumb, she thought, running a hand through her messy hair. Though, she did wonder what it would feel like to be infinite and endless, would it feel like this? Blood rushing in her overactive veins, heart pumping double time, head swimming in murky water?

As she mulled all this over, a noise resonated from behind her, though she didn't want to process anything, but her high, of course.

"Louis?" A smooth, British accent sounded from the doorway.

Louis had just finished up his share, but there was clearly more of the white substance on the beside table and the blade lay there, along with a used up note. It was more than obvious what the two were up to.

"Zayn!" Lou proclaimed in a drug induced tone.

Claire turned her head to find a surprised, dark-haired boy looking at the two of them. Though, he didn't seem bothered, just a bit shocked to have walked in on the two of them.

Claire grinned at the boy in a predatory way, before gesturing with trembling hands to the table. "Would you like to join us?" Her voice sounded far off, as if she were hearing herself from under a foot of water.

Zayn took a moment before a sly smile spread across his face. He shut the door with a slight click and made his way over, footsteps sounding muffled.

Lou backed away from the table and rested against the wall by a window that overlooked the front lawn. Meanwhile, Zayn was dumping the last of the substance out and started to make sloppy line with fervent fingers.

Claire rolled her eyes, making her way over to the table and shoving his hands away. "You're doing it wrong," She told him rather impatiently with a tsk tsk before lining it up right.

She could feel the boy's breath on the back of her neck, a gesture she usually would have been annoyed by, but not know, especially when her head was this far up in the clouds.

After a couple minutes, or hours, she could hardly tell time right, three lines were laid out for the boy and he excitedly zipped them up, obviously not a complete amateur.

He sighed, and covered his nose as blood ran down. Claire stared for a moment before breaking out in hysterical laughter, finding the whole ordeal rather ridiculous.

Lou seemed to be off in his own world, staring out the window with new eyes and taking in everything under the impression of the drug.

"I'm rather hoping you're stocked up." Zayn mumbled, leaning his back against the table and wiping his sleeve across his nose, trying to rid himself of the blood.

Claire smirked in his direction, patting his leg knowingly, "Oh, trust me handsome, we have plenty more where that came from."

"You guys!" Louis shouted from the window, suddenly very excited again. "You've got to see this."

Claire didn't move, she thought she might call over if she did, "What is it, Lou?" She asked instead, suddenly very amused.

"It's," His eyes stared in complete wonder. "a black squirrel. I've never seen one before."

Claire and Zayn shared a look in complete silence before bursting out in a fit of giggles, the drug obviously causing this laughter as they cried from giggling so hard at something that wasn't even mildly funny.

While they were in their fit of laughter, not one of them seemed to notice the door opening once again.

It was only when the boy was in front of their faces that they seemed to notice him standing there, arms crossed and a foot tapping impatiently like a parent that had just caught their child doing something very wrong.

"Zayn," His voice was rough with anger and disappointment.

Claire glanced up with dazed, frosty eyes. She registered that the person was Liam and knew that he was very angry with all three of them, but her mind couldn't go much farther than that in the moment.

"What's wrong, mate?" He asked in a soft tone, still trying to stifle his giggles.

er

Liam seemed shocked as he stared at his friend, "Zayn, what's wrong? Seriously? More like what's wrong with you." He gestured to the bedside table, brows drawn together as his eyes darkened.

Zayn just waved a hand in clear dismissal, attempting nonchalance, "Oh, don't you worry about that. Just a little bit of fun." He seemed to be coming down from the first haze of the drug.

Liam crossed his arms even tighter, "No, Zayn ,this isn't 'just a little bit of fun', it's serious. You know, I thought you were smarter than this." Zayn took in the other boy's words with downcast eyes, seeming to finally realize his mistake with a shake of his head.

"Go to your room Zayn, I'll check on you in a minute." Liam helped his friend up, steadying the boy as he walked quickly, but clumsily, to the door.

As soon as Zayn was gone, Liam turned his hard gaze to Claire, who seemed to finally realize the trouble she could be getting into. Liam was sure to tell Anedria, who would announce it to everyone, who would then assume she was some sort of crazy mental job (which she completely was), but still.

"Liam," Claire began in a panic, heart racing from both the drugs and anxiety. "you absolutely cannot tell my sister. Please, promise me you won't tell her." She was on her feet then, slender legs unsteady, meeting his gaze.

Louis was silent from his side of the room, obviously knowing he was older than Liam and could do absolutely anything he wanted without being ridiculed.

Liam looked down, brown eyes caught between guilt and anger. "You know I can't do that," He finally spoke with an air of superiority. "Not only did you put yourself in danger, but you also put my best friend in danger, which I am definitely not okay with." He spoke sternly, as if talking to a child, which he might as well have been.

Now Claire was on defense mode, her heart still pounding wildly against her ribcage. "It's none of your business to tell my sister." She argued, feeling like it was a good point.

He was obviously trying to stay calm and keep from rolling his eyes. "Actually, Claire, it is my business, considering your sister seems to have taken a role as somewhat of a leader, she needs to know."

"I have a better idea: why don't you just fuck off?" She finally broke, losing every sense of pleading she had.

Now the boy really did roll his eyes, "No, why don't you stop acting so cold and cut off, we all know you're not actually like this."

Now, that caught her off guard, causing her to take a surprised step back. She hadn't thought anyone could see through her. She had put up such a high, rough wall that no one was supposed to be able to break through.

Without another word, she tore out of the room, having had panicked with nothing else to say.

Breathing hard and blood still rushing faster than it should, she locked herself in her room, back against the door. With a sinking feel of self hatred and worry, she slid down the door and everything went black.


	11. Chapter 11

"Fine, Harry and I, against Anedria and you." Louis replied back in a sassy tone, hands on his hips as he playfully stared down the two girls. Abby was smiling, competitive blood pumping.

"You're on, Tomlinson." She shot back easily, pulling out a big metal mixing bowl from the cupboard. Her small hands grabbed at numerous items as she worked, obviously intent on beating the two boys.

As it turned out, all four of them had seemed to have the same idea upon waking up the next morning. Abby and Anedria had met up in the hall, both their hair in messy styles to match sleepy eyes. The two girls had walked into the kitchen together and only to find Harry and Louis attempting to put together a breakfast.

Having had shared a doubtful look with each other, Anedria and Abby had insisted on taking over the cooking while the boys found something more useful to do. The two boys easily got offended at that and one thing led to another, and soon enough, they had a bit of a competition going on.

"We're going to need judges." Harry argued, pulling out still-fresh eggs from the fridge.

"We've got you lot covered." A sleepy Irish accent floated down the hall to the kitchen as Niall and Zayla walked in, both sporting bedheads like everyone else.

"Great, this should be a piece of cake." Abby announced confidently, pouring a random amount of pancake mix into the bowl, and continued to dump water in till the mixture because a smooth paste.

"Since it's a competition, I think the winner should get a prize, don't you think so, Harry?" Louis looked at his friend with a sly grin, while Anedria shot Abby a slightly worried look.

"Seems fair to me," Harry replied to his friend with the same cheshire grin, beating at the eggs with a rapid whisk.

"Oh, guys, I don't know-" Anedria started to say, but was cut off by Abby.

"You're so on," She shot back with such confidence and ease that her friend didn't even bother arguing the idea any further.

"So, if we win," Abby started, passing Anedria the bowl of mix to be poured onto the hot skillet. "We want you two to..." She thought for a moment, then, with a happy grin announced, "to paint our rooms, completely new and well done."

The two boys shared a look and Harry groaned in annoyance, because really, who enjoyed the idea of such a time consuming task? Even if they had all the time in the world.

Though, they didn't seem too bothered, because Louis' prize would seem to be worth the risk. "Alright, seems fair enough, but if we win," He paused to grab a spatula from the rack that hung across the stove. "you two are required to go on a sort of," He paused again for effect " 'double date' with us." He put quotes over the two words, since it wouldn't be much of a date, considering there wasn't anywhere really to go and do with no one else really being 'alive'.

"Deal," Abby answered for Anedria, who was busy giving her a deadly glare, which she obviously ignored, too excited to win.

"Shake on it," Louis added, holding out a hand to Abby, Harry doing the same with Anedria.

"We're going to regret this," Abby heard her friend murmur as she accepted Harry's grip.

The two teams got to cooking right away, Anedria busily flipping pancakes with skilled ease, Harry making scrambled and fried eggs next to her. Abby was busily cutting fruit that surprisingly hadn't gone bad in neat shapes as Louis made toast, obviously not as talented as he led on to be, but the boy's confidence never seemed to waver.

Zayla was resting her head against the table, tired and bored, while Niall egged on his friends and kept telling Abby and Anedria not to mess up. At one point Abby got so caught up in Niall's yells that she ended up dropping a plate full of pancakes.

"Horan!" She had yelled in a pestered tone, chucking one of the fallen pancakes at his face.

Zayla laughed his surprised look, and before anyone knew what was going on, you had the two teams working furiously to finish and the two 'judges' cheering each team on.

In the end, Abby and Anedria's team had a beautiful ensemble of perfected pancakes, fresh fruit, and a side of a small omelette. While the other 'team' had a plate of tons of eggs and toast, not nearly as organized as the others.

The four of them waited anxiously as Zayla and Niall started to eat, and Abby and Anedria had to watch with dismay as the two suddenly seemed to choose Harry and Louis' dish over theirs.

"Oh, fuck," Abby said in a low voice.

But, out of nowhere, a yell sounded upstairs, clear panic making it's way down to the six of them. "Help, someone, I need help!"

"That's Liam," Niall looked up before all of them started to rush up to where the voice was coming from.

Abby stayed near the back of the group, along with Louis and Harry. They all climbed the stairs, Niall and Anedria in the lead as they followed Liam's voice to where he stood outside Claire's doorway.

"Liam, what's wrong, mate?" NIall asked, slightly out of breath.

Liam was pushing frantically against the door with his shoulder, attempting to bust it down with the strength of his upper body. "Claire- she ran off and she won't answer, and her door is locked."

"She's fine, Liam, she's probably still sleeping." Zayla argued against his panic.

He looked down for a moment, obviously guilty of something. "No, she's not asleep." Then with a sigh, he quickly ran through what had happened. "I caught her, Zayn, and Louis snorting something, God only knows what. But, she ran off and now she won't answer."

This caused the whole group to prick with worry, and soon enough Niall and Liam were barging against the door. Sawyer, having heard the racket, eventually came and helped the boys, and with the combined force of three boys, the door gave away with a loud crack.

Claire was passed out on the floor, white-blonde hair limp around her even paler throat, blood running down from her nose. Anedria rushed to her sisters side, gripping Claire tightly by her shoulders, shaking in a way that wasn't completely gentle.

Abby couldn't do anything, but stand shocked in the doorway with Lou and Harry. Liam and Niall were helping Claire to her bed, and thankfully, she was unconsciously fidgeting and murmuring. Sawyer kept Anedria back, watching as Claire soon gained a sense of consciousness.

Her blue eyes were glazed and dim with tiredness and confusion. But, as she saw everyone standing around her, she shook her head. "Well, fuck." Was all she said before going back under.

Liam held up a hand to signal everyone to wait as he took her pulse. "She's fine," He finally announced, "Just let her sleep it off."

Anedria was the first to leave, more than obviously upset as she stormed out of the room. Sawyer followed her in a worried way. Soon enough everyone left, Liam leaving Claire's now-broken door open.

Abby followed Louis back to the kitchen, but before they rejoined everyone else, he turned around and said, "I'm looking forward to that 'date'" And with a wink, hurried ahead of her.


	12. Chapter 12

"Zayla," Finn called from down the hall, jogging to catch up with her. The boy seemed a bit bedridden, stumbling as if still half-asleep, but continued on anyways.

"Have you seen Jack at all?" He asked, finally reaching her. His green eyes seemed relaxed, obviously he hadn't heard of the "Claire news".

"Yeah, he should be in his room or with Anedria, but I think he's probably still sleeping." She shrugged, gesturing to his room on the opposite end of the hallway.

"Okay, thanks, and by the way, what's up with everyone? I was talking to Liam for a moment and he seemed pretty upset about something." Finn scratched the back of his neck, confusion filtering through his gaze.

Zayla look down awkwardly for a moment, unsure of how to explain. "Um, well, Claire, she- she sort of had another one of her drug fits." Finn's eyes widened at this.

"Christ, you'd think she'd take a hint the first time." He sighed, shaking his head slightly. Zayla tried to make it obvious that the statement hurt her a bit, and Finn immediately seemed to realize his mistake.

"Oh, Zay, I'm sorry, I know she's your best friend and everything-"

She hurriedly cut him off, "No, really, it's fine. She was being stupid and I'm sure she'll get over it eventually; it's just one of her phases she's going through." She gave the boy a smile before they parted ways, Finn headed towards Jack's room, and her walking back upstairs to her shared room.

Niall wasn't anywhere to be seen, and she was sort of grateful, she wanted to be alone for a while.

"Zayla!" A voice yelled, earning a tired sigh out of her as her peace and quiet was disturbed the exact moment it had appeared.

"In my room," She replied, and soon enough Abby and Sam were standing outside of her door.

"We're all going shopping for clothes and what not, wanna come with?" Abby asked, leaning against the door frame.

"Yea, of course." And within twenty minutes half of them loaded up in one of the vans and made their way into downtown London.

"Okay, so we all meet back at the van in two hours, alright?" Marcus cleared up with everyone.

The group consisted of herself, Marcus, Alfie, Louis T., Finn, Abby, Sam, and Cyr. The others had trusted the group to shop for them, Abby and Zayla would be doing the shopping for Anedria and Claire, while the boys would shop for the others.

"Topshop?" Abby asked, and without waiting for an answer, started dragging Zayla along the tight streets of London, making their way down to the store.

"So, you and Niall, hmm?" Abby started with her usual smirk, mischief clear in her light eyes.

Zayla blushed a little before rolling her own, "Uh, no. We both just happen to love food a lot and there happened to only be one room with a built in fridge. There was no fucking way I was giving that up."

"Yea, sure." The smaller girl replied, sarcasm leaking in her voice.

They entered Topshop through the (luckily) open front doors. It was an odd sight, seeing a store completely empty and looking at all the racks of clothing and knowing you didn't have to pay for a single thing.

"Shit, this is going to be so much fun." And with that, Abby took off running towards the shoe section.

Zayla settled for looking for jeans and shirts first, picking out things she knew Claire would like and others that she liked as well. It was more than weird to be picking out items and simply going behind the counter when her hands got too full and pulling out a bag, no payment necessary.

The whole shopping trip was tiring. Not only did they have to make three trips to the van with bag ladened arms, but they had to wander around the city attempting to find stores that were either familiar or looked somewhat likable.

The two of them ran into the groups of the boys every now and then. They even found Marcus and Alfie attempting to work the coffee machines at a Starbucks to make lattes. Needless to say, it didn't work so well in their favor.

Within two hours everyone was tired and completely stocked with a new wardrobe. Sam had gotten a call from the house saying that they were putting together a big dinner for everyone with the leftover food in the house.

Zayla sat next to Abby and Louis on the way back and had to suffer through the two of them giggling and endlessly flirting with one another, which definitely confused her. Only a day or so earlier Abby had been head over heels for Cyr.

As soon as the van was parked Zayla was hopping out and grabbing a few bags, rushing to get away from the two annoying teens and ready to be fed a nice dinner after endless shitty snacks.

As soon as she stepped inside she could smell a savory aroma coming from the kitchen. Without a second thought, she dropped the bags at the floor of the staircase and left the front door open for everyone else to come in.

The kitchen was alight with activity. Harry and Sawyer were both at the stove; each flipping pots and pans around as they cooked. Anedria was, of course, by Jack, both their heads bent low in a deep conversation as one mixed drinks and the other chopped away at some sort of vegetable. Niall, Caspar, and Zayn were all waiting rather impatiently at the huge dining room table that they appeared to have set up. The only three that were missing was Liam, Claire, and Louis.

"Zayla," Niall yelled from the table and gestured to a seat beside him. "saved you a seat." And with just her luck, Abby walked in at that exact moment and winked at her before going to talk with Anedria.

Zayla took the seat next to Niall, appreciating the boy's friendliness. Despite the rather rough start, the two were getting on really well.

"Fun time?" He asked, taking a swig from a beer bottle, Iris accent deep and throaty. She was growing fond of the sound of it.

She scoffed, "Sure, if you'd ever call hours of shopping with Abby fun, then yeah." But, the sarcasm had clearly seeped through and Niall smiled knowingly.

The dinner was presented shortly after, a huge buffet of chicken stir-fry, fresh vegetables, canned foods like corn and green beans, a cheese platter, chips and salsa, completed by a Greek salad.

The table was somewhat crowded, it was originally meant to seat twelve people and they were pushing eighteen. Though somehow, they figured it out and then everyone was grabbing everywhere, trying to get their own fair share of food.

No one suggested saying grace or praying, but they were all young, and no one could expect more from them, especially considering their situation.

Conversation filtered through with ease, everyone breaking into their own. Zayla chatted mildly with Niall and Finn who both found a common interested in soccer or, as they called it, football.

Without warning, the room abruptly fell silent and Zayla had to twist around in her chair to see what everyone was finding so interesting.

Claire, Liam, and Louis had all decided to join everyone, though Louis looked slightly embarrassed and Liam somewhat uncomfortable. Claire didn't seem to care though, which was to be expected anyway. She walked towards, seating herself beside Zayla and Alfie like nothing was wrong.

Zayla did catch a slight shake of Liam's head as he chose a seat beside Harry. Louis plopped down next to him, dishing himself some stir-fry and salad.

Everyone could feel the thick tension in the room, making the air awkward as everyone glanced back and forth between the sisters, waiting for one to crack.

Zayla glanced to her friend, trying to read her expression, soon finding it useless as the girl had put a mask, blocking all emotion besides the cocky grin that stayed in place as she grabbed for the salad.

Anedria was the one to break the silence, green eyes blazing as she glared across the table at her sister. "So nice of you to finally join us, Claire."

Claire pretended to look up in surprise, big eyes wide as she gave her younger sibling a look that screamed "angel". "Well, you know, I was just so tired after all that traveling the other day. I'm fine."

Anedria didn't hesitate to answer back. "Oh, really? It couldn't have been your little cocaine adventure this morning at all? Because that definitely didn't look fine."

Now Claire was full on grinning, even though her hands were still quivering. Zayla couldn't help, but think 'aw shit,' as she hurriedly returned to her food, chewing on a piece of chicken as the fight increased in volume and anger.

"Nah, I don't think that was the problem, but thank you for the reminder. I had a great time." She smirked, taking a sip from her water place neatly in front of her.

Anedria broke from her eased front and frustration sank into her tone, which was now practically dripping with fury. "You know, I thought after the pill accident on the plane you'd be done for at least two weeks or so, but the next fucking day you do the shit all over again."

Claire was leaning forward, obviously intent on pushing her sister to the limit. "Were you not aware? The plane incident was just a warm up, little sis."

The group was watching the two like it was a tennis match, everyone anxious to see who would break first.

"C'mon, you two, ease up-" Abby started to butt in, but the two sisters turned their glares on her for a moment, only to then tell her to shut up in sync.

"Since you seem so keen to talk about my issues, why don't we just tell everyone about yours?" Claire suggested mildly. Anedria's eyes went wide, shock and fear slowly spreading across her features. Only four of the people in that room knew about Anedria's past.

"Claire, that's enough." The younger one bit back, lip trembling.

"No, I think we're just getting started."

"Don't you dare."

"Hm, don't tempt me with a dare. You know me A, I'll retaliate."

Anedria let out a slight gasp and everyone's eyes went wide as they slowly realized Abby had just flung a handful of the green beans at her.

"Abigail!" She exclaimed before acting without a thought, throwing some of her dripping salad at the other girl, who squealed in respond.

Claire took full advantage of this and Zayla saw her friend grab a huge chunk of the stir-fry to fling across the table, some of it getting on Jack as well as Anedria.

One thing lead to another and mere within seconds, Sam stood up and shouted "Food fight!"

Not wanting to get dirty, Zayla hid under the table and saw Caspar there as well. He smirked in a knowing way and they waited for it to die down.

The two knew it was finished when they heard Anedria yell something at Claire, who returned it with a witty remark, and by the sound of quick footsteps, one the girls had apparently tromped off.

Nodding at Caspar, they made their way out, peeking through the tablecloth and recieving an odd look from Alfie. "Cas, Zayla, what are you guys doing?" His face and hair was covered in dressing and noodles, though he looked amused.

"Making sweet love," Caspar responded with slight sarcasm. "What the hell do you think we were doing?" And the two made their way fully out, Zayla being careful not to slip on a spilt drink.

Everyone was covered in food and she wasn't surprised to find both Anedria and Jack missing, the two of them obviously fed up with Claire.

The ghostly girl looked slightly triumphant to everyone else, but Zayla could see the hidden regret in her features.

"Well, I'm not cleaning up this mess." Sawyer said with slight disgust at the food covered table and floor.

And within seconds a chorus of 'not it's' sounded, and it was eventually argued out that Abby, Claire, Liam, and Sam would clean up the mess. The two girls because they had started it, Sam because he had instigated it, and Liam because he had offered to help.

"You know, I think I saw a Wii in the basement the other night." Cyr suggested and everyone who wasn't worn out or cleaning followed him downstairs.

Turns out that Cyr was right, there was a Wii along with an Xbox and enough games to house a store. Though they all agreed on Mario Kart since it had the most amount of players.

"I call baby Mario!" Zayla exclaimed, grabbing a controller from Finn and immediately stealing the place of first player.

Niall logged in as player two, and Marcus and Finn got player three and four. Their audience consisted of Caspar, Sawyer, and Cyr.

The teens played through twenty races, exchanging profanities and occasionally hitting each other, their remotes finally being thrown down in frustration.

Overall, Caspar and Zayla were tied in lead; both calling it quits when they realized that there was no way either of them could possibly beat one or the other.

"Well, I'm going to bed." She announced, getting up and stretching as she said goodnight to everyone. She started up the stairs, prepared to take a warm shower and sleep in till at least noon tomorrow. She deserved that much from all the shopping and excitement today.

Having gotten new products from Lush, she excitedly walked into Niall's and her shared bathroom, turning the warm water of the shower on full blast. Grabbing her old iPod from her bathroom bag, she plugged it into the installed I-doc and picked out her favorite playlist that featured a lot of Walk The Moon.

She didn't keep track of time in the shower, but knew she must have been in there a while considering the water had turned cold and the playlist was on its second spin.

She got out, dressing hurriedly. Zayla toweled dried her hair, the curls at the ends of her hair already spiraling. Quickly brushing her teeth and pausing her music, she left the bathroom, only to find Niall sprawled out on the bed.

He glanced up for a second, "Going to bed already?"

She nodded, throwing her used towel in a hamper across the room. "I said that downstairs."

He smiled for a moment, "Oh, I just thought you were lying to get away from all the noise down there. That lot can get sort of crazy."

She playfully rolled her eyes before heading towards the door, "I'll be back in a little bit, do you want anything from the kitchen?"

Niall let out an exasperated sigh, "Oh, don't make me choose. Just something good and a lot of it considering most of dinner ended up on the floor."

Again she nodded before walking out of the door silently, the boy's charming accent still ringing in her ears as she climbed down the stairs with extreme care, knowing she could easily trip down them barefoot, especially in the dark.

Instead of simply turning the lights on, she just felt her way around the hallway that led to the kitchen, putting her hands out in front of her so she didn't smack her head against a wall or door.

But, she stopped short before reaching the kitchen. A light was illuminating the entryway to it and she could hear small, heated whispers coming from it.

Her never-ending curiousity getting the better of her, she started to walk towards the entryway, close enough to hear, but not close enough to be seen.

"A, you seriously just need to calm down and breathe." She recognized Sawyer's voice immediately and figured Anedria was in there with him.

"No, I can't simply 'calm down'." She retorted, sounding choked up with anxiety.

"Well, you're going to have to if you don't want your panic attacks to come back. I know you don't want everyone here to know about everything, so you honestly need to start letting some things slide. It'd be better for everyone, especially you."

"Sawyer, I'm not just going to watch my sister be an idiot and end up killing herself. If she does overdose, she'd be screwed because I don't know about you, but I don't see any doctors around." Even though her words sounded like they were intended to be angry, her voice continued to crack.

"I just think you need to sleep all of it off and talk to her tomorrow. Just talk to her and calmly tell her how you feel about it and, hopefully, everything will work out. Okay?" Sawyer reassured the girl.

There was a moment of silence and then footsteps before Zayla realized they were walking out. Without thinking much, she hid behind the fake bush in the hallway, hoping that the parts of her that weren't concealed were hidden by the darkness.

They didn't even look in her direction, instead walking down the opposite hallway to their own rooms.

With a relieved sigh, Zayla quickly went around in the kitchen to find a bag of chips and a tub of ice cream, still fresh and not freezer-burnt.

Memorizing the way up, she quickly got to her shared bedroom, excited to share what she heard in the kitchen with Niall.

But, the blonde haired boy was asleep, limbs sprawled everywhere and taking up the whole bed.

"Oh, I don't think so." Zayla mumbled to herself before grabbing a pillow that had fallen on the floor, hitting the Irish boy over the head.

That woke him up fast; he glared up hazily, seeming ready to yell, but the anger passed when he saw that it was just Zayla, standing before him with food.

"Sorry, you were taking forever." He apologized, grabbing the unopened bag and ripping it apart, still drowzy as he lazily shoved food into his mouth.

"Move over," She insisted, grabbing a spoon she had brought up and taking a seat on the bed, leaning her back against the dark headboard.

"So," She started after a moment of silence. "I heard Sawyer and Anedria talking downstairs."

Niall looked up, semi-interested. "And?" He asked through a mouth full.

"And, they were talking about Claire. Sawyer was trying to get her to apologize, and I'm pretty sure she agreed to, or at least I hope that's where she's going with all of this."

He snorted, and gave a slight roll of his eyes. "I sure hope so, those two are constantly at each other's throats, and I literally think someone else is going to snap soon. That Jack looked like he would have gladly thrown Claire out."

Zayla laughed softly, scooping a bit of the coffee ice cream out and savoring the taste. "Anyways, away from everything that's happening now, I've always wanted to ask you or one of the boys what it's like to not have to, like," She paused, working on finding the right word. "Hide from everyone. You know, like when you had to constantly be guarded from all those screaming fans. I mean, it's has to be weird."

He nodded, thinking about it for a moment. "Yea, I guess if I think about it it is sort of odd. But, I like it. All that constant touring and interviews and signings really do get to you." He agreed, and then switched food items with her, shoveling the spoon into the tub of ice cream.

"But, you did it anyways." She pressed, wanting to know more about him.

He smiled, obviously finding her curiosity amusing. "Yup, because all the fans kept pushing us on, and the touring and interviews and signings were a lot of fun. Especially the traveling, all those new places..." He trailed off, licking the spoon.

Zayla sighed, "I've always wanted to travel, but now that everyone is gone, it really doesn't seem worth it."

Niall glanced at her sadly for a moment, but then perked up. "Hey, I promise if everything ever goes back to normal, I'll take you anywhere you want."

She laughed for a moment, knowing the thought of everything going back to normal was ridiculous. But, she pushed the offer further. "Even France?" She asked, eyes big and hopeful.

Now he laughed, an odd sound, but cute in a way. "Yea, even France."

They looked at each other for a moment before Niall stretched and gave a tired yawn. "Let's get some rest; I think there will be enough grumpy people tomorrow."

Zayla agreed and set down the food, putting the half-finished ice cream in their built in freezer before turning the lights all the way off.

When she turned back to the bed, she found Niall already curled up against the wall side. 'of course he likes the wall side, too', she thought to herself, crawling under the sheets and already knowing she'd be cuddled up next to the blonde boy in the morning. She couldn't stand not sleeping on the wall side, but since he had been so nice to her, she couldn't bear to make him move.

With a single sigh and a readjustment of her pillows, she fell into a deep sleep.


	13. Chapter 13

A loud knock on the door woke Anedria from her previous state of sleep. She stirred in a groggy sort of way, glacing at the clock she had set up on the bedside table.

It read: 7:43 p.m.

"You have got to be kidding me." She grumbled, throwing her legs over the bed and walking over to her door, very closely tripping on the way.

She opened the door to reveal Abby, hair up in a ponytail and stormy gray eyes excited. She was dressed neatly, but casual, as if ready to go out.

"What the actual fuck, Abby?" Anedria scowled, letting the shorter girl in.

"Did you forget that little deal we had with Lou and Harry?" She put her hands on her hips and stared at her friend with an expectant look.

Anedria had completely forgotten about that little deal yesterday, but now that it was brought back up she was furious all over again. Not only would doing this be annoying with Abby and Louis being all flirty, but it would be unfair to Jack.

"Abigail, I never really agreed to this."

Her friend's eyes went big again and she glared. "No, you shook on it. You can't just back out now."

They stared each other down for a moment, one daring the other to break and being Anedria, she broke first, throwing her hands up in the air.

"Fine, but no one said I have to enjoy it."

Abby clapped her hands together in triumph and went over to Anedria's dresser to dig through her clothes. "We've got to find you something at least a little cute, ya know?"

Anedria just sighed and left Abby to go take a shower. She made it longer than usual just to annoy her friend and pulled red-brown hair high up on her head. She didn't bother with makeup, not wanting to make this more of a date than it already was.

When she stepped out she saw that Abby had left and laid out an outfit on her messy bed. It consisted of high-wasted black jeans, a band tee for The Wonder Years, and a dark wash jean shirt to go over it. With a slight eye roll, she hurriedly got dressed, pulling on a pair of boots to complete the outfit.

With a final look at herself in the mirror, she left her room, walking down the hall to attempt to find Abby. She could hear laughter and giggles coming from the front entryway and walked towards the sounds.

Of course it was Abby, twirling a piece of hair and laughing at something Louis had said, and Harry stood a bit off, a small smirk on his lips.

Abby was the first to notice her presence. "Anedria, you already then?" She looked her friend over and seemed to be proud in her choice of outfit.

"Yea," She walked forward, hesitantly though. "But, if you don't mind me asking, what are we even planning on doing?"

Louis and Harry exchanged sly smiles, "Well," Louis started, "Harry and I thought that maybe we'd show you girls some of London's best and maybe a game of footie possibly."

"Great," Anedria said shortly, still upset with this whole situation. "But, I get to drive." And at that Louis threw her a pair of keys and they made their way out, Louis and Abby taking the backseat and Harry sitting passenger.

She easily pulled out of the driveway and made her way down to the road that would lead to the highway. Louis and Abby fell into easy conversation, and Anedria picked up snippets of their talk. They seemed to both take an interest in drama and Lou was telling her how he had once starred in his school's musical 'Grease'.

"Did I do something wrong?" A deep voice asked from beside her. She glanced quickly away from the road to look over at Harry who was staring at her intently.

She shook her head, eyes refocusing on the road. "No, of course not. What would make you think that?" She asked, curious.

She saw him shrug out of the corner of her eye. "I don't know, you just seem really put off today. It wasn't because of dinner last night, was it?"

He seemed determined to get an answer, but she couldn't just be outright and say that she thought this was unfair of her and rude towards Jack, so she lied. "Yea, my sister seems to have a knack at annoying the hell out of me." She forced a smile.

"Siblings can get that way. My sister was just the same, but after the whole band thing she just seemed to enjoy having a little time with me, you know? I mean, I was gone 350 days of the year." Even though he was talking about the past and that it must have been painful, he smiled, as if remembering his sister.

"You miss her." Anedria didn't ask, it was obvious from the tone of his voice.

But, he nodded and she turned to him for a second. "Yea, I miss all of my family. But, I mean, we all do." She thought about that, thinking of how she had been so happy to finally move away from her parents and now how regretful she was that they were gone forever.

Silence continued for the two in the front, except when Harry would point where to go. She followed his instructions and soon found herself driving them into the heart of London, heading towards the Eye and Big Ben.

"You two aren't going to try and get that Ferris wheel to work, are you?" She questioned uncertainty as she was instructed to park.

"Oh, Anedria, do you really take us for idiots?" Louis asked in a sassy tone from the back, sliding open the van door. She playfully rolled her eyes at the boy before stepping out, grabbing the keys and pocketing them.

They had pulled over right next to the London Eye and Anedria had to take a step back and admire the huge structure. It was the biggest Ferris wheel she had ever seen and she could only imagine the view they would get from the top.

"Well, girls, welcome to London. Shall we start on breakfast or exploring the royal castle?" Louis asked, standing up on the curb of the sidewalk.

Abby and Anedria exchanged excited glances. "Castle," They both agreed at the same time and without a seconds thought the four of them were running to the huge building lay out in before them.

The door was surprisingly unlocked, which was odd considering it was the house of the royal family. But, Louis walked in like it was his own home.

Anedria gasped when she walked in. Everything was as you would imagine it, completely vintage and expensive, very 'royal' like. The entryway had marble floors and a huge chandelier, much more marvelous than their own at the house.

"Shit," Abby muttered, walking in further and looking around with interested eyes.

"I'd say," Anedria agreed, running her hand along the perfectly painted walls.

"Right, well, Abby and I will be exploring somewhere. Have fun, Harry!" Louis announced before grabbing Abby's hand and running off down the corner and out of sight.

Anedria turned to the curly haired boy. "How do you put up with that all the time?" She mockingly asked, but smiled to let him know she was only joking. He must be wondering the same with her and Abby.

Harry just shrugged and then gestured to the huge marble stairway. "Ladies first," He offered and she gave him a polite smile before heading up the stairs, careful not to slip on the slick surface.

They stopped on the third floor, Anedria walking off to the right with Harry following close behind. "This is crazy, I feel like we're intruding." Anedria confessed, stopping short of a room that had many flower patterns.

A warm hand was placed on her shoulder, "We don't have to stay here, you know? There's a pub down the street, we can probably find something to eat and drink if you'd like." He suggested and she immediately nodded, starting to get weirded out by the old and empty building.

Harry had quickly texted Lou where they would be and why before they exited and Harry led the way to the run down building across the street.

The door to the pub turned out to be locked and after Harry had ten minutes of trial and error, Anedria playfully rolled her eyes and found a piece of plywood to smash the window in with. Avoiding the jagged edges of the window, she reached in and unlocked the door, swinging it open.

"I could have done that," Harry sheepishly said before ducking in the doorway.

Inside the place was dark and sort of musty; it smelt like alcohol and stale cigarettes. Harry started to flip some of the blinds open to let in light and Anedria made her way to the bar, going behind the counter to look at what was in store.

"Any Guinness?" Harry asked taking a seat on one of the bar stools and started to swivel around like a child.

Anedria gave him a confused look. "Any what?"

"It's a type of beer." He replied, seeming amazed that she didn't know what it was.

"Alright, Styles, here's the deal, I'm going to make you one of my special mix drinks and you're going to like it, alright?" She playfully argued, already grabbed two medium size glasses and reaching for a bottle of cherry vodka.

"If the lady says so," Harry laughed, holding his hands up in an innocent way.

She mixed together the vodka, pomegranate juice found underneath by all the fruity mixes, Cointreau liquor, some sparkling water, and finally a little bit of lemon juice. Harry watched and her small, but swift hands put everything together with practiced ease.

She slid the drink to him, "Enjoy," And with a smirk they clinked glasses and both chugged their share.

His eyes went wide, "That was amazing," He complimented, seeming to savor the taste.

"Yea, I know. Took me forever to perfect it though." She admitted, taking back his glass and giving him just a shot of plain vodka while she poured herself a glass of whiskey.

"So, are you enjoying yourself so far?" Harry asked green eyes as innocent as a child's, but actions as devious as an adult as he shot back more alcohol.

"I suppose so," She playfully said, though she really was having an okay time. Being out of the house was relieving and Harry was easy to talk to.

"I was also wondering," He spun his finger around the brim of the glass. "What was your sister talking about the other night? You know, when she said something about you have problems."

This left Anedria a bit taken aback and she quickly threw back more whiskey, trying to fog her brain up a bit.

"You're going to have to get me black out drunk for me to tell you that, Styles." She admitted and then carefully decided not to drink anymore today, afraid exactly that would happen.

Harry had other ideas though; he grabbed at the clear bottle and poured himself another shot. He seemed much more loose and confident after drinking a bit and Anedria could tell he was much more comfortable that way.

"Well, I guess I'll just have to use my amazing persuasion skills." He smirked and then stood up, although a bit wobbly.

"Would you like to dance?" He asked with a silly smile.

Anedria glanced at him in a worried sort of way, "Harry, I don't know about that, there's no music playing."

"I can fix that," He argued, going to an old jukebox and seeming to find a way to turn it on. He stood there for a good couple minutes before the speakers over their heads played 'Beast of Burden' by The Rolling Stones.

She laughed, a genuine laugh. "Harry Styles, we can't dance to this."

He nodded his head, "Oh, yes we can."

He took her hand and started to twirl her, obviously trying hard not to stumble over his own too big feet. She laughed again and clasped her hand with his as they started to waltz to the song.

"Best date of your life yet?" He questioned in a cocky tone, though his eyes were genuinely anxious to hear what she thought.

"It's…" She paused, looking for the right word. "Interesting to say that least." She smiled at the pretty boy, who was definitely trying his best to maintain a good balance.

"Well, I suppose that's good, right?"

"Yea, I guess you could say that." She admitted, pushing back any guilty feelings and just enjoying her time with Harry and how calm and good she felt.

They danced in silence for a few measures, letting the wonderful song ring through their ears and she let Harry guide the 'dance', occasionally stumbling.

The song ended sooner than she would have liked, she had to admit to herself, but they did have to get back to Louis and Abby at some time.

"C'mon, Harry, we'd better go." And she began to pull away, but he grabbed at her hand gently and muttered a 'wait'.

And to say it was the most cliché thing that could have ever happened would be an understatement.

Harry pulled her back and close, and went in to kiss her.

If you had asked her, she would never admit to actually enjoying it, but deep down, she really did.


	14. Chapter 14

Sunlight shone through the wide spread windows, casting a pretty glow on the hardwood floors, and it would have been a nice view, except for the fact that Claire was just trying to get some fucking sleep and the blasted rays were glaring right through the window pane only to pound straight into her eyes.

"This is some sick form of torture." She murmured, pulling a hand over to shield her eyes from the dreadful light.

Her head was throbbing in a post drug sort of way. Everything had a (familiar) soreness to it, especially her throbbing temples. The very thought of waking up made her feel tired enough to sleep that day away.

But, that wouldn't be possible. Anedria would think that she was locked up in the room smoking something or getting herself into something harmful, because Claire knew that those were the first things that Anedria would always assume.

With a feeling of dread and hesitation, she lazily pulled her legs over her bed. She dressed as slow as possible, pulling on jeans that clung to her slender legs, matching it with a cardigan that she didn't recognize, but was definitely fit for a male as it seemed to drown her delicate figure.

She made her way outside the hall and made sure to look side to side, trying to figure out if anyone was awake, or if she happened to be the last one asleep.

With careful movements, she made her way down the glass stairs to the living area, light footsteps making the slightest of sound.

Sawyer, Finn, Cyr, and Liam all sat in the lounge area. Two had Xbox controllers in hand and were playing a content game of Minecraft while the other two watched boredly.

Claire plopped down without so much as a greeting, lighting a menthol cigarette and carelessly ashing in a flower pot.

"Well, the dead has arisen." Sawyer joked, glancing nervously at her sideways. He kept his eyes mostly fixed on the screen, building some sort of barrier.

"You're very amusing," She retorted, taking another drag and looking out the window. The sun had fully risen and the green grass was soaking in the rare light. "First time I've seen the sun since we arrived. It's nice." She noted, mostly to herself.

"Yea, we don't get much of that in London." Finn absently said, watching the flat-screen with interest.

"Where is everyone?" Claire inquired a moment later.

Liam was the one to reply, resting his head against his hand as he turned to look at her, eyes instantly widening at the cardigan she had put on. "Your sister, Harry, Lou, and Abby all left early this morning to go do something or another, and mostly everyone else is still asleep."

She nodded, looking away from his curious brown gaze that seemed to unnerve her so much. It wasn't fair the way his presence had such an effect on her. It was like she was being stripped of her defenses, and vulnerability was never an option for her.

Footsteps sounded down the hallway and soon enough Jack appeared in the entryway, rubbing tiredly at his eyes, hair tousled from sleep.

He glanced around at the group curiously. "Has anyone seen Anedria?" He asked, voice rough from sleep.

Claire smirked a little, feeling a devious rush to cause trouble; prepared to do anything to annoy the boy. "Yea, she's out on a date with Harry." It was simple, and maybe a bit of a lie, but enough to jolt the boy from his tiredness.

"What?" He asked, glancing around at the guys for clarification.

Liam shifted uncomfortably, obviously knowing more than what he had told Claire. "Well, mate, it was just sort of a deal they had going on. But, they're not alone," He hurriedly amended, "Louis and Abby are both with them."

Jack held up an angry hand, not looking convinced, "But, it is a sort of 'date'?"

Liam gulped and looked down, "Well, I suppose technically, but-" He was cut off by Jack storming out the room, already pulling out his phone, probably to dial Anedria.

Sawyer turned to Claire, annoyance littering his expression, "You shouldn't have said anything." This only caused her to roll her eyes; of course Sawyer would defend her sister to the grave.

"Why? I don't think it's fair to be keeping secrets. Do you not all agree?" She smirked, brow arched cockily.

Liam was shaking his head, "Claire, that still wasn't right."

She turned her gaze on him, eyes hardening. "Well, what I do is really none of your business, Payne."

Now his eyes focused more, lips cast down into the making of a frown. "Actually you've just made an enemy to one of my best friends, therefore making it my business."

She sneered, pretty features twisting. "Please, I'm sure Jack isn't much of a threat to Harry."

The room had gone silent and the air felt awkward. Finn was fidgeting as if wanting to stick up for his brother, but not wanting to get in the middle of the argument. Cyr was looking like he was going to get up and run away at any given moment.

"Guys, can I talk to Claire for a moment, please? Alone?" Liam asked in that polite voice of his, eyes resembling a puppy. Claire wanted to slap that look off of his face because it was too much and she couldn't even bare to look at him and all of his purity.

They all nodded and walked out, Finn probably heading to go calm down his brother.

Claire lit another cigarette, starting the endless cycle that was chain-smoking. She waited for Liam to start chastising her. Her eyes were fixed on the outside window, observing everything but what was right in front of her.

"Claire," He started, and she eventually turned to look at him, curiosity getting the best of her. "Why do you keep doing things like this?" He questioned, rubbing a hand against the side of his face.

She gave him a dumb look, as if he honestly couldn't figure it out. "I think I've made it fairly clear why I 'keep doing things like this'." She stated sarcastically, teeth working unconsciously at the pink of her bottom lip.

The boy ran a hand over his closely cut scalp. "No, I don't think you have. I just don't understand why you're doing this. We might be the last people left on this planet, and you don't even want to make it enjoyable? Just tell me why."

She laughed, a harsh, cruel laugh that was chilling to the bone. "Because Liam, where's the fun in that?"

He gave the girl an odd look, like he couldn't believe what he was hearing. "You're really something else, you know that, right?"

She tossed her head and smirked, "Oh, of course, I take pride in it in fact."

The two seemed to glare each other down, both of them daring the other to speak up or back down, but the silence could have continued forever.

Lucky for them, the front door burst open in the next second and both of them turned their heads to see Anedria storming inside, eyes wild and concerned as she turned to them.

"What have you told him?" She hissed at her sister, body tense and fists clenched.

Of course Claire knew right away she was referring to Jack and, being the pain that she was, she innocently shrugged and played dumb. "I have no clue what you're talking about."

"Liam?" Anedria turned to him, finding it clear that Claire wasn't going to be any help.

He looked down in a guilty way again, but was fortunately saved by Harry stumbling into the lounge area, eyes dulled in an alcohol induced sort of way.

"Anedria, I told you I was-" He was then cut off by three other people entering the room.

Louis and Abby had trailed in after Harry and were both looking indifferent to the whole situation. The third was Jack, whos lips were pursed and he crossed his arms in a pissed sort of way at seeing Anedria.

Claire was overjoyed with the whole situation. "Shit, this is getting good." But, everyone ignored her, waiting to see what would happen.

"Can you I talk with you?" He asked Anedria is a scary calm sort of way, and suddenly Claire wasn't very amused anymore, rather sort of scared for her sister.

Anedria reluctantly nodded and didn't say a word as she followed him out of the room, head down in a guilty sort of way.

"Fuck," Harry muttered as soon as they were gone, running a hand through his messy curls.

"Have you been drinking already, mate?" Liam asked in a concerned sort of way.

The boy ignored his question and went off upstairs, closely followed by the other two.

"Well, damn, this could all get very interesting." Claire murmured, still trying pull that care free facade up.

Liam turned to her now, and she was surprised to see a bit of disgust in his eyes. "No, Claire, it's not interesting, it's bloody annoying and pathetic." He moved to stand, "I wish you would stop this fake little act and start acting like a sister to Anedria and actually just act like a normal human." She opened her mouth to speak, but closed it as he went on. "And until you can do so, leave me alone."

As he left the room, Claire's heart felt weird, as if something had been taken away or stepped on, damaged. She felt a numbness well over and crush her chest. It was like suffocating, but worse.

****Feeling claustrophobic, she stood up abruptly and started heading towards the main door, no plans, no destination, just the feeling that she had to get away.


	15. Chapter 15

"Harry, c'mon, let us in." Louis attempted to persuade from outside his own bedroom. Harry seemed to have forgotten where he resided in the house and was currently locked up inside Lou's room.

Abby stood there impatiently tapping a foot on the wooden floor, arms crossed as Louis gave her a helpless look, blue eyes slightly annoyed.

Abby stepped forward and tapped against the door, "Styles, you'd better let us in before I get Sawyer to break this door down." Though the threat could obviously been seen through as a lie, she could immediately hear Harry's footsteps making their way across the room.

The boy opened the door, revealing himself and how his eyes still looked dazed and slightly tired. Louis sighed in relief at seeing his friend finally give in.

"About time, mate, let me in." And he pushed past his friend to plop down on his bed, gesturing for Abby to sit by him.

She did so, carelessly sitting closely next to him. Harry sighed as he looked at the two who were obviously not planning on going anywhere.

"Would you care to explain what happened?" The older boy asked with a slight smirk, but worry was clear in his eyes as he watched his friend take a seat at the bright desk in the corner.

"Not really," He mumbled, voice deep and hardly coherent.

"Well, too bad." Abby retaliated, crossing her arms again in a stubborn manner.

Harry sighed deeply, looking troubled as his green eyes traced the outline of the curtain hang dully by the window. Abby started tapping her foot in impatience again, waiting for him to start what had happened.

She was still dumbfounded that Anedria could have gotten so upset, her friend had been keeping such a good lock down on everything lately, especially her anxiety and paranoia. Louis and her had hardly left the other two alone for longer than an hour.

But, Abby remembered that hour well.

After Harry and Anedria had ditched out, the trouble makers had ended up breaking into the castle's liquor cabinet and popping open a bottle of hundred year old wine. She could still remember the bitter taste on her mouth, along with Louis' lips.

Not long after, she had gotten a panicked called from Anedria yelling that they had to get home right that instant without further explanation. Her friend ended up smashing a window to a black stratus and driving herself back.

Despite the date being ruined, Abby had had a great time while it had lasted. Even now she shared a devious and knowing side glance with Lou, loving the constant twinkle of mischief clear in his eyes.

"Harry," Louis pressed after a moment of silence.

"It was nothing, I just, well, things were going so well and she seemed into it and I simply kissed her-"

Abby cut him off before he had a chance to finish. "Harry Styles, are you an idiot?"

He glanced quickly at the small girl in a confused way. "No, what did I do? She was happy enough and when she knew that song I played right away, well, a girl with good music taste makes her even more attractive and it was a in the moment sort of-" Abby cut him off again with an obvious stare.

Now it was Abby's turn to sigh. She knew she should tell them, but it wasn't exactly her place to be telling them Anedria's little secret. Maybe, she could tell them only the necessary parts and leave out the suicidal things.

"I know I really shouldn't be the one telling you, but," She bit her lip, realizing what she was getting herself into. "Just, promise me you won't tell anyone about this." She looked at both the boys, the two of them seemed completely warped into what she was saying and nodded in sync.

"Okay, well, Anedria is not your average day person. She's been dealing with really bad anxiety and sort of paranoia for years." Abby noticed that Harry was about to ask a question and put up a finger to tell him to wait. "It got to a point where she'd have attack randomly and would hardly leave her house and let's just say it got really, really bad after that, but I'm not going to tell you guys all the details. I've already said more than I should have."

They both looked slightly concerned and worried. "But," Harry started, eyebrows furrowed in concentration. "Jack called her and sounded really upset, she's going to be alright, right?"

Abby scoffed, "Of course, Jack wouldn't do anything, he's just jealous."

They both seemed to nod in agreement at that. "But, what do I do know?" Harry asked, glancing at both of them for help and Abby couldn't help, but pity him, he looked so lost like a puppy.

"I'd just leave it for a while." Louis suggested, "Her and Jack did seem pretty close when we first met even."

The curly haired boy took another deep sigh, "I guess," And continued looking at the ground in an upset manner.

"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm starving." Abby stated immediately after, not wanting an awkward silence to commence.

Louis shrugged, "I'm gonna stay for a bit," And then pointedly looked at Harry and back to Abby, signaling that he wanted to talk to his friend alone.

"Right, well, I'll see you two soon then." And stood up to leave, stomach growling as she closed the big door behind her, shoes clicking on the wooden flooring.

She stood there in the hallway for a moment, debating on whether to go downstairs and find something to eat or go out and find a store or shop that might have some good leftovers.

The urge for a good shake and something from Nandos got to her and she went off to find Zayla, knowing her friend would definitely want to go with.

Figuring the older girl was probably still asleep, she made her way down the the bedroom she shared with Niall, the blonde Irish boy who could eat them out of everything in the house.

The short girl didn't bother with knocking, not having much patience with formalities.

She was surprised, though, to find her friend not only in the same bed as the Irish lad, but also curled into his side, brown hair displayed across her pillow.

"Oh, shit!" She couldn't help, but yell in excitement for her friend. "Zayla, what the hell, dude?" She yelled even louder, waking the sleepy girl up from her deep sleep.

The girl seemed confused for a moment, glancing around and finally realizing what Abby was freaking out about. Zayla had enough decency to blush and move to the other side of the bed in a hurry, managing to wake up Niall in her rush.

"What's going on?" Abby hardly made out, the mixture of a deep accent and morning voice blurring his words.

"Nothing," Zayla hurriedly said, pretending that she had just woken up on the other side of the bed, but Abby's smirk from across the room still sent a rush of blood to her face.

"Right," Niall mumbled, nodding with a tired smile and flopping back down, going back to snoring within seconds.

Zayla turned to glare at Abby, brown eyes blazing with grumpiness and annoyance. But, being Abby, she just gave an innocent shrug of her shoulders.

"What did you want?" Zayla asked, standing up and putting on a pair of glasses that rested on the bedside dresser.

"Was just wondering if you wanted to go out for lunch? Or, maybe you'd want to go back to your cuddle session?" Abby suggested with a devious smirk, leaning against the doorway.

"Shut up," She hissed, but then paused. "But, I'd love to get some food. Give me ten minutes, okay?"

Abby nodded, hand on the door handle. "Okay, but if you want some more time," She pointedly looked at Niall, "I wouldn't hold it against you." She shut the door with a quick wink, hearing the sound of pillow being thrown at the door as soon as she shut it.


	16. UPDATE

Okay, this is just a little 'update' on all the reviews I'm getting about this being a violation.

One ; I'm not going to take this story down because it makes some of you 'upset'. Which, brings me to my next point.

Two ; I don't understand why in the world you've become this mad or upset about a story not following the rules on this site. I mean, do you really have nothing better to do?

Three ; This is specifically to the person who commented on them riding and flying a jet. NONE OF THIS STORY IS IN ANY WAY 'REALISTIC'. I mean, for fucks sake, everyone on earth just 'disappeared'. Does that sound realistic to you? No. This is MY story, so I'll have as much imagination and such nonsense as I please. I MEAN, THIS SITE IS FOR CREATIVE FREEDOM. Not for critical pricks like yourself.

okay, rant is over, and now this is to those who actually read and enjoy the story : A new chapter will be posted soon. I'm making it 6,000+ words long, so patience it's appreciated.


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